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Sciences 
Corporation 


33  WIST  MAIN  SIJliET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)872-4503 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
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121 


D 


D 


D 


D 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommagie 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurie  et/ou  pellicul6e 


I      I    Cover  title  missing/ 


Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 


I      I    Coloured  maps/ 


Cartes  gdographiques  en  couleur 


Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


I      I   Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 


Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
ReiiA  avec  d'autres  documents 


Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  liure  serr^e  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
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Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppl6mentaires; 


The  c 
to  th( 


L'Institut  a  microfilmi  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  iti  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique.  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  m6thode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiquAs  ci-dessous. 


I      I   Coloured  pages/ 


y/ 


D 


Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagdes 

Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restauries  et/ou  pelliculAes 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  ddcolordes,  tachetdes  ou  piqu6es 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  ddtachies 


The  ii 
possi 
of  thi 
filmir 


Origii 
begin 
thele 
sion. 
other 
first  I 
sion. 
or  illi 


Showthrough/ 
Transparence 


I      I    Quality  of  print  varies/ 


Quality  indgale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  materiel  supplimentaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 


Thel< 
shall 
TINU 
whici 

Maps 

differ 

entirt 

begir 

right 

requi 

meth 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partieilement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
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obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film6  au  taux  de  rMuction  indiqui  ci-dessous. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


MX 


30X 


y 

12X 


1«X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


e 

itails 
s  du 
)odifier 
r  une 
Image 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

National  Library  of  Canada 


The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


L'exemplaire  film6  f ut  reproduit  grflce  d  la 
g6n6rosit6  de: 

Bibliothdque  nationale  du  Canada 


Les  images  suivantes  ont  6t6  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettetd  de  l'exemplaire  film6.  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 


IS 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


Les  exempiaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprim6e  sont  film6s  en  commenqant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration.  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exempiaires 
originaux  sont  filmfo  en  commenpant  par  la 
premidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  — »>  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  —►  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
film6s  d  des  taux  de  reduction  diff^rents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clich6.  il  est  filmd  A  partir 
de  Tangle  supdrieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite. 
et  de  haut  en  bas.  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  ndcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mithode. 


errata 
to 


pelure, 
in  d 


n 

32X 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

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AN  INQUIRY 


i 


INTO 


THE  DISTINCTIVE  GHIBACTERISTICS 


or 


THE  ABORIGINAL  RACE 


or 


AMERICA. 


BY   SAMUEL   GEORGE  MORTON,  M.  D., 

Author  jf  Crania  Americana;  Crania  iEgyptiaca;  &c. 


SKCOKn      IDITIOX. 


-*-*.,.  PHILADELPHIA: 
^j(  oi  N   P  E  N  I  N  G  T  0  N, 

ClIVSTIIVT   «TBKKT 

1844. 


■■'^g^<'*^v<»Wv^o». 


V'"^"', 


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AN  INQUIRY 


W 


•# 


\ 


INTO 


THE  DISTINCTIVE  CHARACTERISTICS 


OF 


THE  ABORIGINAL  RACE 


or 


AMERICA. 


-■*■!■ 


BY    SAMUEL    GEORGE  MORTON,  M.  D., 

Author  of  Crania  Americana,  Crania  ^gyptiaca,  &c. 


VV 


BBCOHD     XDITIOK. 


PHELADELPHTA: 

JOHN    PENINGTON, 

Chestkdt  strest. 

1844. 


■A 


i 


w 


I  ( 


NOTE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 


Thb  following  Esiay  was  read  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Boston  Societj 
of  Natural  History,  on  the  27th  of  April,  1842,  and  published  by  direction  of 
the  Society.  In  the  present  edition  I  have  made  a  few  verbal  corrections,  and 
added  some  collateral  facis  in  an  Appendix. 

I  have  taken  a  rapid  glance  at  what  I  conceive  to  be  the  peculiar  traits  of  the 
Aboriginal  race  of  America,  as  embraced  in  five  principal  considerations,  viz. : 
their  organic,  moral,  and  intellectual  characters,  their  mode  of  interment,  and 
their  maratime  enterprise ;  and  from  these  I  have  ventured  to  draw  a  few  defi- 
nite conclusions.  I  am  aware  that  it  may  appear  presumptuous  to  attempt  so 
wide  a  range  within  the  brief  limits  of  the  present  occasion,  especially  as  some 
points  can  be  touched  only  in  the  most  general  manner ;  but  my  object  has 
been  to  dwell  rather  upon  some  of  these  which  have  hitherto  received  less  at- 
tention than  they  obviously  deserve,  and  which  are  intimately  involved  in  the 
present  inquiry. 

S.  G.  MORTON. 

Philadelphia,  July  1, 1844. 


u 


Mtfrrihew  gt  Tboropson,  Printen,  7  Cartrr's  Alley. 


\\ 


ON    THE 


ABORIGINAL  RACE  OF  AMERICA. 


y. 


\\ 


Ethnoorafht, — the  analjrsis  and  classification  of  the  races 
of  men,* — is  essentially  a  modern  science.  At  a  time  when 
Nature  in  her  other  departments,  had  been  investigated 
with  equal  zeal  and  success,  this  alone  remained  compara- 
tively neglected ;  and  of  the  various  authors  who  have  at- 
tempted its  exposition  during  the  past  and  present  centuries, 
too  many  have  been  content  with  closet  theories,  in  which 
facts  are  perverted  to  sustain  some  baseless  conjecture. 
Hence  it  has  been  aptly  remarked  that  Asia  is  the  country  of 
fables,  Africa  of  monsters,  and  America  of  systems,  to  those 
who  prefer  hypothesis  to  truth. 

The  intellectual  genius  of  antiquity  justly  excites  our  ad- 
miration and  homage ;  but  in  vain  we  search  its  records  for 
the  physical  traits  of  some  of  the  most  celebrated  nations  of 
past  time.  It  is  even  yet  gravely  disputed  whether  the  an- 
cient Egyptians  belonged  to  the  Caucasian  race  or  to  the  Ne- 
gro ;  and  was  it  not  for  the  light  which  now  dawns  upon  us 
from  their  monuments  and  their  tombs,  this  question  might 
remain  forever  undecided.  The  present  age,  however,  is 
marked  by  a  noble  zeal  for  these  inquiries,  wluJi  are  daily 
making  man  more  conversant  with  the  organic  structure,  the 
mental  character  and  the  national  affinities  of  the  various  and 
widely  scattered  tribes  of  the  human  family. 

Among  these  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  America  claim 
our  especial  attention.  This  vast  theatre  has  been  thronged, 
from  immemorial  time,  by  numberless  tribes  which  lived  only 
to  destroy  and  be  in  turn  destroyed,  without  leaving  a  trace 

*  Ethnography  may  be  divided  into  three  branches — I.  Physical  or  Organic 
Ethnography  ;  2.  Philological  Ethnography  ;  and  3.  Historical  Ethnography. 


4  DISTINCTIVE  CHARACTKBISTICS  07  THB 

of  their  sojourn  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Contrasted  with 
these  were  a  few  civiUzed  communities,  whose  monuments 
awaken  our  surprise  without  unfolding  their  history ;  and  he 
who  would  unravel  thoir  mysteries  may  be  compared,  in  the 
language  of  the  poets,  to  a  man  standing  by  the  stream  of 
time,  and  striving  to  rescue  from  its  waters  the  wrecked  and 
shattered  fragments  which  float  onward  to  oblivion. 

It  is  not  my  present  intention  even  to  enumerate  the  many 
theories  which  have  been  advanced  in  reference  to  the  origin 
of  the  American  nations;  although  I  may,  in  the  sequel,  in- 
quire whether  their  genealogy  can  be  traced  to  the  Polyne- 
sians or  Mongolians,  Hindoos,  Jews  or  Egyptians.  Nor  shall 
I  attempt  to  analyse  the  views  of  certain  philosophers  who 
imagine  that  they  have  found  not  only  a  variety  of  races,  but 
several  species  of  men  among  the  aborigines  of  this  continent. 
It  is  chiefly  my  intention  to  produce  a  few  of  the  more  strik- 
ingly characteristic  traits  of  these  people  to  sustain  the  po- 
sition that  all  the  American  nations,  excepting  the  Eskimaux, 
are  of  one  race,  and  that  this  race  is  peculiar,  and  distinct 
from  all  others. 


1.  Physical  Characteristics.  It  is  an  adage  among  travel- 
lers that  he  who  has  seen  one  tribe  of  Indians,  has  seen  all, 
so  much  do  the  individuals  of  this  race  resemble  each  other, 
notwithstanding  their  immense  geographical  distribution,  and 
those  differences  of  climate  which  embrace  the  extremes  of 
heat  and  cold.  The  half-clad  Fuegian,  shrinking  from  his 
dreary  winter,  has  the  same  characteristic  lineaments,  though 
in  an  exaggerated  degree,  as  the  Indians  of  the  tropical  plains; 
and  these  again  resemble  the  tribes  which  inhabit  the  region 
west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  those  of  the  great  valley  of  the 
Mississippi,  and  those  again  which  skirt  the  Eskimaux  on 
the  North.  All  possess  alike  the  long,  lank,  black  hair,  the 
brown  or  cinnamon  colored  skin,  the  heavy  brow,  the  dull 
and  sleepy  eye,  the  full  and  compressed  lips,  and  the  salient 
but  dilated  nose.  These  traits,  moreover,  are  equally  com- 
mon to  the  savage  and  civilized  nations ;  whether  they  in- 


ABOBIO^NAL  RACB  OF  AMERICA.  9 

habit  the  margins  of  rivers  and  feed  on  fish,  or  rove  the  forest 
and  subsist  on  the  spoils  of  the  chase. 

It  cannot  be  questioned  that  physical  diversities  do  occur, 
equally  singular  and  inexplicable,  as  seen  in  different  shades 
of  color,  varying  from  a  fair  tint  to  a  complexion  almost 
black;  and  this  too  under  circumstances  in  which  climate 
can  have  little  or  no  influence.  So  also  in  reference  to 
stature,  the  differences  are  remarkable  in  entire  tribes  which, 
moreover,  are  geographically  proximate  to  each  other.  These 
facts,  however,  are  mere  exceptions  to  a  general  rule,  and  do 
not  alter  the  peculiar  physiognomy  of  the  Indian,  which  is  as 
undeviatingly  characteristic  as  that  of  the  Negro ;  for  whe- 
ther we  sec  him  in  the  athletic  Charib  or  the  stunted  Chayma, 
in  the  dark  Californian  or  the  fair  Borroa,  he  is  an  Indian  still, 
and  cannot  be  mistaken  for  a  being  of  any  other  race. 

The  same  conformity  of  organization  is  not  less  obvious  in 
the  osteological  structure  of  these  people,  as  seen  in  the 
squared  or  rounded  head,  the  flattened  or  vertical  occiput,  the 
high  cheek  bones,  the  ponderous  maxillae,  the  large  quadran- 
gular orbits,  and  the  low,  receding  forehead.  I  have  had  op- 
portunity to  compare  nearly  four  hundred  crania,  derived 
from  tribes  inhabiting  almost  every  region  of  both  Americas, 
and  have  been  astonished  to  find  how  the  preceding  charac- 
ters, in  greater  or  less  degree,  pervade  them  all. 

This  remark  is  equally  applicable  to  the  ancient  and  mo- 
dern nations  of  our  continent;  for  the  oldest  skulls  from  the 
Peruvian  cemeteries,  the  tombs  of  Mexico  and  the  mounds  of 
our  own  country,  arc  of  the  same  type  as  the  heads  of  the 
most  savage  existing  tribes.*  Their  physical  organization 
proves  the  origin  of  one  to  have  been  equally  the  origin  of 
all.  The  various  civilized  nations  are  to  this  day  represented 
by  their  lineal  descendants  who  inhabit  their  ancestral  seats, 
and  differ  in  no  exterior  respect  from  the  wild  and  unculti- 
vated Indians ;  at  the  same  time,  in  evidence  of  their  lineage, 
Clavigero  and  other  historians  inform  us,  that  the  Mexicans 
and  Peruvians  yet  possess  a  latent  mental  superiority  which 


*See  Appendix,  No.  1,- 
1* 


-Crania  Americana,  poMtm. 


6 


DISTINCTIVE  CHARACTERISTICS  Or  THE 


|l' 


has  not  been  subdued  by  three  centuries  of  despotism.  And 
again,  with  respect  to  the  royal  personages  and  other  privi- 
leged classes,  there  is  indubitable  evidence  that  they  were  of 
the  same  native  stock,  and  presented  no  distinctive  attributes 
excepting  those  of  a  social  or  political  character. 

The  observations  of  Molina  and  Humboldt  are  sometimes 
quoted  in  disproof  of  this  pervading  uniformity  of  physical 
characters.  Molina  says  that  the  difference  between  an  in- 
habitant of  Chili  and  a  Peruvian  is  not  less  than  between  an 
Italian  and  a  German ;  to  which  Humboldt  adds,  that  the 
American  race  contains  nations  whose  features  differ  as  essen- 
tially from  one  another  as  those  of  the  Circassians,  Moors  and 
Persians.  But  all  these  people  are  of  one  and  the  same  rcctf, 
and  readily  recognized  as  such,  notwithstanding  their  differ- 
ences of  feature  and  complexion;*  and  the  American  nations 
present  a  precisely  parallel  case. 

I  was  at  one  time  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  the  ancient 
Peruvians,  who  inhabited  the  islands  and  confines  of  the 
Lake  Titicaca,  presented  a  congenital  form  of  the  head  en- 
tirely different  from  that  which  characterizes  the  great  Ameri- 
can race;  nor  could  I  at  first  bring  myself  to  believe  that 
their  wonderfully  narrow  and  elongated  crania,  resulted  solely 
from  artificial  compression  applied  to  the  rounded  head  of  the 
Indian.  That  such,  however,  is  the  fact  has  been  indisputa- 
bly proved  by  the  recent  investigations  of  M.  D'Orbigny. 
This  distinguished  naturalist  passed  many  months  on  the 
table-land  of  the  Andes  which  embraces  the  region  of  these 
extraordinary  people,  and  examined  the  dessicated  remains 
of  hundreds  of  individuals  in  the  tombs  where  they  have  lain 
for  centuries.  M.  D'Orbigny  remarked  that  while  many  of 
the  heads  were  deformed  in  the  manner  to  which  we  have 
adverted,  others  differed  in  nothing  from  the  usual  conforma- 
tion. It  was  also  observed  that  the  flattened  skulls  were  uni- 
formly those  of  men.  while  those  of  the  women  remained 
unaltered;  and  again,  that  the  most  elongated  heads  were 

*A  portion  of  the  Moorish  population  of  Africa  ii  a  very  loixed  race  of 
Arabs,  Berbers,  Negroes,  &,c. 


ABORIOINAL  BACK  Or  AMCRICA. 


race  of 


preserved  in  tho  largest  and  finest  tombs,  shewing  that  this 
cranial  deformityr  was  a  mark  of  distinction.  But  to  do  away 
with  any  remaining  doubt  on  this  subject,  M.  D'Orbigny  as- 
certained that  the  descendants  of  these  ancient  Peruvians  yet 
inhabit  the  land  of  their  ancestors,  and  bear  tho  name  of 
Aymahas,  which  may  have  been  their  primitive  designation ; 
and  lastly,  tho  modern  Aymarus  resemble  the  common  Qui- 
chua  or  Peruvian  Indians  in  every  thing  that  relates  to  physi- 
cal conformation,  not  even  excepting  the  head,  which,  how- 
ever they  have  ceased  to  mould  artificially.'* 

Submitted  to  the  same  anatomical  test,  the  reputed  giant 
and  dwarf  races  of  America  prove  to  be  the  mere  inventions 
of  ignorance  or  imposition.  A  careful  inspection  of  the  re- 
mains of  both,  has  fully  satisfied  me  that  the  asserted  gigantic 
form  of  some  nations  has  been  a  hasty  inference  on  the  part 
of  unpractised  observers;  while  the  so-called  pygmies  of  the 
valley  of  the  Mississippi  were  mere  children,  who,  for  reasons 
not  wholly  understood,  were  buried  apart  from  the  adult  peo- 
ple of  their  tribe,  t 

Thus  it  is  that  the  American  Indian,  from  the  southern  ex- 
tremity of  the  continent  to  the  northern  limit  of  his  range,  is 
the  same  exterior  man.  With  somewhat  variable  stature  and 
complexion,  his  distinctive  features,  though  variously  modi- 
fied, are  never  effaced;  and  he  stands  isolated  from  the  rest 
of  mankind,  identified  at  a  glance  in  every  locality,  and  under 
every  variety  of  circumstance  ;  and  even  his  dessicated  re- 
mains which  have  withstood  the  destroying  hand  of  time, 
preserve  the  primeval  type  of  his  race,  excepting  only  when 
art  has  interposed  to  pervert  it. 

2.  Moral  Traits.  These  are,  perhaps,  as  strongly  marked 
as  the  physical  characteristics  of  which  we  have  just  spoken; 
but  they  have  been  so  often  the  subject  of  analysis  as  to  claim 
only  a  passing  notice  on  the  present  occasion.  Among  the 
most  prominent  of  this  series  of  mental  operations  is  a  sleep- 
less caution,  an  untiring  vigilance,  which  presides  over  every 
action  and  masks  every  motive.  The  Indian  says  nothing  and 

•  Soe  Appendix,  No.  2.         f  See  Appendix,  No.  3. 


8 


DISTINCTIVE    CHARACTERISTICS   OP   THE 


does  nothing  without  its  influence:  it  enables  him  to  deceive 
others  without  being  himself  suspected ;  it  causes  that  pro- 
verbial taciturtiity  among  strangers  which  changes  to  garru- 
lity among  the  people  of  his  own  tribe  ;  and  it  is  the  basis  of 
that  iii  incible  firmness  which  teaches  him  to  contend  unre- 
piningly  with  every  adverse  circumstance,  and  even  with 
death  in  its  most  hideous  forms. 

The  love  of  war  is  so  general,  so  characteristic,  that  it 
scarcely  calls  for  a  comment  or  an  illustration.  One  nation  is 
in  almost  perpetual  hostility  with  another,  tribe  against  tribe, 
man  against  man ;  and  with  this  ruling  passion  are  linked  a 
merciless  revenge  and  an  unsparing  destructiveness.  The 
Chickasaws  have  been  known  to  make  a  stealthy  march  of 
six  hundred  miles  from  their  own  hunting  grounds,  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  destroying  an  encampment  of  their  enemies. 
The  small  islnnd  of  Nantucket,  which  contains  but  a  few 
square  miles  of  barren  sand,  was  inhabited  at  the  advent  of 
the  European  colonies  by  two  Indian  tribes,  who  sometimes 
engaged  in  hot  and  deadly  feud  with  each  other.  But  what 
is  yet  more  remarkable,  the  miserable  natives  of  Terra  del 
Fuego,  whose  common  privations  have  linked  them  for  a  time 
in  peace  and  fellowship,  become  suddenly  excited  by  the 
same  inherent  ferocity,  and  exert  their  puny  efforts  for  mutual 
destruction.  Oi  .he  destructive  propensity  of  the  Indian,  which 
has  long  become  a  proverb,  it  is  almost  uimecessary  to  speak ; 
but  we  may  advert  to  a  forcible  example  from  the  narrative 
of  the  traveller  Hearne,  who  accompanied  a  trading  party  of 
northern  Indians  on  a  long  journey;  during  which  he  declares 
that  they  killed  every  living  creature  that  came  within  their 
reach;  nor  could  they  even  pass  a  bird's  nest  without  slaying 
the  young  or  destroying  the  eggs. 

1'hat  philosophic  traveller.  Dr.  Von  Martins,  gives  a  graphic 
view  of  the  present  state  of  natural  and  civil  rights  among 
the  American  aborigines.  Their  sub-division,  he  remarks, 
into  an  almost  countless  multitude  of  greater  and  smaller 
groups,  and  their  entire  exclusion  and  excommunication  with 
regard  to  each  other,  strike  the  eye  of  the  obseiver  like  the 


ABORIGINAL   RACE   OF   AMERICA. 


9 


J 


fragments  of  a  vast  ruin,  to  which  the  history  of  the  other 
nations  of  the  earth  furnishes  no  analogy.  «  This  disruption 
of  all  the  bands  by  which  society  was  anciently  held  together, 
accompanied  by  a  Babylonish  confusion  cf  tongues,  the  rude 
right  of  force,  the  never  ending  tacit  warfare  of  all  against 
all,  springing  from  that  very  disrupture, — appear  to  me  the 
most  essential,  and,  as  far  as  history  is  concerned,  the  most 
significant  points  iu  the  civil  condition  of  the  aboriginal 
population  of  America." 

It  may  be  said  that  these  features  of  the  Indian  character 
are  common  to  all  mankind  in  the  savage  state.  This  is  gene- 
rally true;  but  in  the  American  race  they  exist  in  a  degree 
which  will  fairly  challenge  a  comparison  with  similar  traits 
in  any  existing  people;  and  if  we  consider  also  their  habitual 
indolence  and  improvidence,  their  indifference  to  private  pro- 
perty,and  the  vague  simplicity  of  their  religiousobservances, — 
which,  for  the  most  part,  are  devoid  of  the  specious  aid  of 
idolatry, — we  must  admit  them  to  possess  a  peculiar  and  ec- 
centric moral  constitution. 

If  we  turn  now  to  the  demi-civilized  nations,  we  find  the 
dawn  of  refinement  coupled  with  those  barbarous  usages 
which  characterize  the  Indian  in  his  savage  slate.  We  see 
the  Mexicans,  like  the  later  Romans,  encouraging  the  most 
bloody  and  cruel  rites,  and  these,  too,  in  the  name  of  religion, 
in  order  to  inculcate  hatred  of  their  enemies,  familiarity  with 
danger,  and  contempt  of  death;  and  the  moral  effect  of  this 
system  is  manifest  in  their  valorous,  though  unsuccessful,  re- 
sistance to  their  Spanish  conquerors. 

Among  the  Peruvians,  however,  the  case  was  different. 
The  inhabitants  had  been  subjugated  to  the  Incas  by  a  com- 
bined moral  and  physical  influence.  The  Inca  family  were 
looked  upon  as  beings  of  divine  origin.  They  assumed  to  be 
the  messengers  of  heaven,  bearing  rewards  for  the  good,  and 
punishment  for  the  disobedient,  conjoined  with  the  arts  of 
peace  and  various  social  institutions.  History  bears  ample  tes- 
timony that  these  specious  pretences  were  employed  first  to 
captivate  the  fancy  and  then  to  enslave  the  man.   The  fami- 


1 


10 


DISTINCTIVE   CHARACTERISTICS  OP  THE 


HI         I 


liar  adage  that  "knowledge  is  power,"  was  as  well  understood 
by  them  as  by  us ;  learning  was  artfully  restricted  to  a  privi- 
leged class ;  and  the  genius  of  the  few  soon  controlled  the 
energies  of  the  many.    Thus  the  policy  of  the  Incas  incul- 
cated in  their  subjects  an  abject  obedience  which  knew  no 
limit.    They  endeavored  to  eradicate  the  feeling  of  individ- 
uality ;  or,  in  other  words,  to  unite  the  minds  of  the  plebeian 
multitude  in  a  common  will,  which  was  that  of  their  master. 
Thus  when  Pizarro  made  his  first  attack  on  the  defenceless 
Peruvians  in  the  presence  of  their  Inca,  the  latter  was  borne 
in  a  throne  on  the  shoulders  of  four  men ;  and  we  are  told  by 
Herrera  that  while  the  Spaniards  spared  the  Sovereign,  they 
aimed  their  deadly  blows  at  his  bearers,  who,  however, 
never  shrunk  from  their  sacred  trust ;  for  when  one  of  their 
number  fell,  another  immediately  took  his  place;  and  the  his- 
torian declares  that  if  the  whole  day  had  been  spent  in  kill- 
ing them,  others  would  still  have  came  forward  to  the  passive 
support  of  their  master.     In  fact,  what  has  been  called  the 
paternal  government  of  the  Incas  was  strictly  such  ;  for  their 
subjects  were  children,  who  neither  thought  nor  acted  except 
at  the  dictation  of  another.    Thus  it  was  that  a  people  whose 
moral  impulses  are  known  to  have  differed  in  little  or  nothing 
from  those  of  the  barbarous  tribes,  were  reduced,  partly  by 
persuasion,  partly  by  force,  to  a  state  of  effeminate  vassalage 
not  unlike  that  of  the  modern  Hindoos.    Like  the  latter,  too, 
they  made  good  soldiers  in  their  native  wars,  not  from  any 
principle  of  valor,  but  from  the  sentiment  of  passive  obedience 
to  their  superiors ;  and  hence,  when  they  saw  their  monarch 
bound  and  imprisoned  by  the  Spaniards,  their  conventional 
courage  at  once  forsook  them  ;  and  we  behold  the  singular 
spectacle  of  .^n  entire  nation  prostrated  at  a  blow,  like  a  strong 
man  whose  energies  yield  to  a  seemingly  trivial  but  rankling 
wound. 

After  the  Inca  power  was  destroyed,  however,  the  dormant 
spirit  of  the  people  was  again  aroused  in  all  the  moral  vehe- 
mence of  their  race,  and  the  gentle  and  unoffending  Peruvian 
became  transformed  into  the  wily  and  merciless  savage.  Every 


bl 

SI 


ABORIOINAL   RACE   OF  AMERICA. 


11 


inderstood 
to  a  privi- 
rolled  the 
cas  incul- 
knew  no 
f  individ- 
I  plebeian 
ir  master, 
^fenceless 
ras  borne 
e  told  by 
ign, they 
lowever, 

of  their 

1  the  his- 

it  in  kill- 

3  passive 

illed  the 

for  their 

|d  except 

e  whose 

nothing 

artly  by 

issalage 

ter,  too, 

)m  any 

edience 

lonarch 

ntional 
ingular 

strong 

nkling 

»rmant 
vehe- 
iivian 
very 


one  is  familiar  with  the  sequel.  Resistance  was  too  late  to 
be  availing,  and  the  fetters  to  which  they  had  confidingly 
submitted  were  soon  riveted  forever. 

As  we  have  already  observed,  the  Incas  depressed  the 
moral  energies  of  their  subjects  in  order  to  secure  their  own 
power.  This  they  efl'ected  by  inculcating  the  arts  of  peace, 
prohibiting  human  sacrifices,  and  in  a  great  measure  avoiding 
capital  punishments;  and  blood  was  seldom  spilt  excepting 
on  the  subjugation  of  warlike  and  refractory  tribes.  In  these 
instances,  however,  the  native  ferocity  of  their  race  broke 
forth  even  in  the  bosom  of  the  Incas ;  for  we  are  told  by 
Garcilaso,  the  descendant  and  apologist  of  the  Peruvian  kings, 
that  some  of  their  wars  were  absolutely  exterminating ;  and 
among  other  examples  he  mentions  that  of  the  Inca  Yupanqui 
against  the  province  of  Collao,  in  which  whole  districts  were 
so  completely  depopulated  that  they  had  subsequently  to 
be  colonized  from  other  parts  of  the  empire:  and  in  another 
instance  the  same  unsparing  despot  destroyed  twenty  thou- 
sand Caranques,  whose  bodies  he  ordered  to  be  thrown  into  an 
adjacent  lake,  which  yet  bears  the  name  of  the  Sea  of  Blood. 
In  like  manner,  when  Atahualpa  contested  the  dominion  with 
Guascar,  he  caused  the  latter,  together  with  thirty  of  his 
brothers,  to  be  put  to  death  in  cold  blood,  that  nothing  might 
impede  his  progress  to  the  throne. 

We  have  thus  endeavored  to  shew  that  the  same  moral 
traits  characterize  all  the  aboriginal  nations  of  this  continent, 
from  the  humanized  Peruvian  to  the  rudest  savage  of  the 
Brazilian  forest. 

3.  Intellectual  Faculties.  It  has  often  been  remarked  that 
the  intellectual  faculties  are  distributed  with  surprising  equal- 
ity among  individuals  of  the  same  race  who  have  been  simi- 
larly educated,  and  subjected  to  the  same  moral  and  other  in- 
fluences: yet  even  among  these,  as  in  the  physical  man,  we 
see  the  strong  and  the  weak,  with  numberless  intermediate 
gradations.  This  equality  is  infinitely  more  obvious  in  sa- 
vage than  in  civilized  communities,  simply  because  in  the 


I 


f 


M 


19 


DISTINCTIVE   CHARACTERISTICS   Or  THE 


former  the  condition  of  life  is  more  equal ;  whence  it  hap- 
pens that  in  contrast  to  a  single  master  mind,  the  plebeian 
multitude  are  content  to  live  and  die  in  their  primitive  igno- 
rance and  inferiorit5^ 

This  truth  is  obvious  at  every  step  of  the  present  investi- 
gation ;  for  of  the  numberless  hordes  which  have  inhabited 
the  American  continent,  a  fractional  portion  only  has  left  any 
trace  of  refinement.     1  venture  here  to  repeat  my  matured 
conviction  that  as  a  race  they  are  decidedly  inferior  to  the 
Mongolian  stock.    They  are  not  only  averse  to  the  restraints 
of  education,  but  seem  for  the  most  part  incapable  of  a  con- 
tinued process  of  reasoning  on  abstract  subjects.  Their  minds 
seize  with  avidity  on  simple  truths,  while  they  reject  what- 
ever requires  investigation  or  analysis.    Their  proximity  for 
more  than  two  centuries  to  European  communities,  has 
scarcely  effected  an  appreciable  change  in  their  manner  of 
life ;  and  as  to  their  social  condition,  they  are  probably  in 
most  respects  the  same  as  at  the  primitive  epoch  of  their  ex- 
istence.    They  have  made  no  improvement  in  the  cojistruc- 
tion  of  their  dwellings,  except  when  directed  by  Europeans 
who  have  become  domiciliated  among  them  ;  for  the  Indian 
cabin  or  the  Indian  tent,  from  Terra  del  Fuego  to  the  river 
St.  Lawrence,  is  perhaps  the  humblest  contrivance  ever  de- 
vised by  man  to  screen  himself  from  the  elements.    Nor  is 
their  mechanical  ingenuity  more  conspicuous  in  the  construc- 
tion of  their  boats;  for  these, as  we  shall  endeavor  to  show  in 
the  sequel,  have  rarely  been  improved  beyond  the  first  rude 
conception.     Their  imitative  faculty  is  of  a  very  humble 
grade,  nor  have  they  any  predilection  for  the  arts  or  sciences. 
The  long  annals  of  missionary  labor  and  private  benefaction, 
present  few  exceptions  to  this  cheerless  picture,  which  is 
sustained  by  the  testimony  of  nearly  all  practical  observers. 
Even  in  those  instances  in  which  the  Indians  have  received 
the  benefits  of  education,  and  remained  for  years  in  civilized 
society,  they  lose  little  or  none  of  the  innate  love  of  their  na- 
tional usages,  which  they  almost  invariably  resume  when  left 
to  choose  for  themselves.* 

*  Crania  Americana,  p.  81. 


4 


ABORIGINAL   RACE   OF  AMERICA. 


13 


le  it  hap- 

plebeian 

live  igno- 

[it  investi- 
inhabited 
IS  left  any 
f  matured 
ior  to  the 
I  restraints 
of  a  con- 
heir  minds 
ject  what- 
ximity  for 
lities,  has 
manner  of 
robably  in 
f  their  ex- 
3  co4istruc- 
Europeans 
the  Indian 
0  the  river 
e  ever  de- 
Nor  is 
construe- 
to  show  in 
first  rude 
y  humble 
)r  sciences, 
enefaction, 
which  is 
observers, 
e  received 
n  civilized 
)f  their  na- 
e  when  left 


Such  is  the  intellectual  poverty  of  the  barbarous  tribes ; 
but  contrasted  with  these,  like  an  oasis  in  the  desert,  are  the 
demi-civilized  nations  of  the  new  world ;  a  people  whose  at- 
tainments in  the  arts  and  sciences  are  a  riddle  in  the  history  of 
the  human  mind.  The  Peruvians  in  the  south,  the  Mexicans 
in  the  north,  and  the  Muyscas  of  Bogota  between  the  two, 
formed  these  contemporary  'centres  of  civilization,  each  in- 
dependent of  the  other,  and  each  equally  skirted  by  wild  and 
savage  hordes.  The  mind  dwells  with  surprise  and  admira- 
tion on  their  cyclopean  structures,  which  often  rival  those  of 
Egypt  in  magnitude; — on  their  temples,  which  embrace  almost 
every  principle  in  architecture  except  the  arch  alone ; — and 
on  their  statues  and  bas-reliefs  which,  notwithstanding  some 
conventional  imperfections,  are  far  above  the  rudimentary 
state  of  the  arts.* 

I  have  elsewhere  ventured  to  designate  these  demi-civilized 
nations  by  the  collective  name  of  the  Toltecan  Family  ;  for 
although  the  Mexican  annals  date  their  civilization  from  a 
period  long  antecedent  to  the  appparance  of  the  Toltecas,  yet 
the  latter  seem  to  have  cultivated  the  arts  and  sciences  to  a 
degree  unknown  to  their  predecessors.  Besides,  the  various 
nations  which  at  different  times  invaded  and  possessed  them- 
selves of  Mexico,  were  characterized  by  the  same  fundamen- 
tal language  and  the  same  physical  traits,  together  with  a 
strong  analogy  in  their  social  institutions :  and  as  the  appear- 
ance of  the  Incas  in  Peru  was  nearly  simultaneous  with  the 
dispersion  of  the  Toltecas,  in  the  year  1050  of  our  era,  there 
is  reasonable  ground  for  the  conjecture  that  the  Mexcans  and 
Peruvians    were    branches    of  the  same    Toltecan    stock 

*I  cannot  omit  the  present  occasion  to  express  my  admiration  of  the  recent  dis- 
coveries of  Mr.  Stephens  among  the  ruined  cities  of  Central  America  and  Yuca- 
tan. The  spirit,  ability,  and  success  which  characterize  these  investigations,  are 
an  honor  to  that  gentleman  and  to  his  country  ;  and  they  will  proliabiy  tend  more 
than  the  labors  of  any  other  person  to  unravel  the  mysteries  of  American  Archos- 
ology.  Similar  in  design  to  these  are  the  researches  of  my  distinguished  friend 
the  Chevalier  Freidrichthol,  the  result  of  whose  labors,  though  not  yet  give 
to  the  world,  are  'replete  with  facts  of  the  utmost  inoportance  to  the  presen 
inquiry. 


i 


Il 


14 


DISTINCTIVE   CHARACTERISTICS  OV  THE 


We  have  alluded  to  a  civilization  antecedent  to  the  appearance 
of  the  Incas,  and  which  had  already  passed  away  when  they 
assumed  the  government  of  the  country.  There  are  tradi- 
tional and  monumental  evidences  of  this  fact  which  can  leave 
no  doubt  on  the  mind,  although  of  its  date  we  can  form  no 
just  conception.  It  may  have  even  preceded  the  Christian 
era,  nor  do  we  know  of  any  positive  reasons  to  the  contrary. 
Chronology  may  be  called  the  crutch  of  history ;  but  with  all 
its  imperfections  it  would  be  invaluable  here,  where  no  clue 
remains  to  unravel  those  mysterious  records  which  excite  our 
research  but  constantly  elude  our  scrutiny.  We  may  be  per- 
mitted, however,  to  repeat  what  is  all-important  to  the  present 
inquiry,  that  these  Ancient  Peruvians  Avere  the  progenitors  of 
the  existing  Aymara  tribes  of  Peru,  while  these  last  are  iden- 
tified in  every  particular  with  the  people  of  the  great  Inca 
race.  All  the  monuments  which  these  various  nations  have 
left  behind  them,  over  a  space  of  three  thousand  miles,  go 
also  to  prove  a  common  origin,  because, notwithstanding  some 
minor  differences,  certain  leading  features  pervade  and  charac- 
terize them  all. 

Whether  the  hive  of  the  civilized  nations  was,  as  some 
suppose,  in  the  fabled  region  of  Aztlan  in  the  north, or  whe. 
ther,  as  the  learned  Cabrera  has  endeavored  to  shew,  their  na- 
tive seats  were  in  Chiapas  and  Guatimala,  we  may  not  stop 
to  inquire  ;  but  to  them,  and  to  them  alone,  ue  trace  the 
monolithic  gateways  of  Peru,  the  sculptures  of  Bogota,  the 
ruined  temples  and  pyramids  of  Mexic  o  and  the  mounds  and 
fortifications  of  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi. 

Such  was  the  Toltecan  Family  ;  and  it  will  now  be  in- 
quired how  it  happens  that  so  great  a  disparity  should  have 
existed  in  the  intellectual  character  of  the  American  nations, 
if  they  are  all  derived  from  a  common  stock,  or  in  other 
words  belong  to  the  same  race  ?  How  are  we  to  reconcile 
the  civilization  of  the  one  with  the  barbarism  of  the  other  ? 
It  is  this  question  which  has  so  much  puzzled  the  philosophers 
of  the  past  three  centuries,  and  led  them,  in  the  face  of  facts, 
to  insist  on  a  plurality  of  races.    We  grant  the  seeming 


ABORIGINAL   RACE  OF   AMERICA. 


15 


ippearance 
when  they 

are  tradi- 
1  can  leave 
in  form  no 
!  Christian 
!  contrary, 
tut  with  all 
re  no  clue 
excite  our 
lay  be  per- 
the  present 
genitors  of 
I  are  iden- 
great Inca 
ions  have 

miles,  go 
ding  some 
nd  charuc- 

as  some 
h,or  whe. 
,  their  na- 
ynot  stop 
trace  the 
3gota,  the 
ounds  and 

w  be  in- 
)uld  have 
[1  nations, 
in  other 
reconcile 
le  other  ? 
ilosophers 
J  of  facts, 
seeming 


I 


anomaly ;  but  however  much  it  is  opposed  to  general  rule,  it 
is  not  without  ample  analogies  among  the  people  of  the  old 
world.  No  stronger  example  need  be  adduced  than  that 
which  presents  itself  in  the  great  Arabian  family ;  for  the. 
Saracens  who  established  their  kingdom  in  Spain,  whose  his. 
tory  is  replete  with  romance  and  refinement,  whose  colleges 
were  the  centres  of  genius  and  learning  for  several  centuries, 
and  whose  arts  and  sciences  have  been  blended  with  those  of 
every  subsequent  age ; — these  very  Saracens  belong  not  only 
to  the  same  race  but  to  the  same  family  with  the  Bedouins  of 
the  desert  ;  those  intractable  barbarians  who  scorn  all  re- 
straints which  are  not  imposed  by  their  own  chief,  and  whose 
immemorial  laws  forbid  them  to  sow  corn,  to  plant  fruit.trees, 
or  to  build  houses,  in  order  that  nothing  may  conflict  with 
those  roving  and  predatory  habits  which  have  continued  unal- 
tered through  a  period  of  three  thousand  years. 

Other  examples  perhaps  not  less  forcible,  might  be  adduced 
in  the  families  of  the  Mongolian  race  ;  but  without  extending 
the  comparison,  or  attempting  to  investigate  this  singular  in- 
tellectual disparity,  we  shall,  for  the  present,  at  least,  content 
ourselves  with  the  facts  as  we  find  them.  It  is  important, 
however,  to  remark,  that  these  civilized  states  do  not  stand 
isolated  from  their  barbarous  neighbors  ;  on  the  contrary 
they  merge  gradually  into  each  other,  so  that  some  nations 
are  with  difficulty  classed  with  either  division,  and  rather 
form  an  intermediate  link  between  the  two.  Such  are  the 
Araucanians,  whose  language  and  customs,  and  even  whose 
arts,  prove  their  direct  affiliation  with  the  Peruvians,  although 
they  far  surpass  the  latter  in  sagacity  and  courage,  at  the 
same  time  that  their  social  institutions  present  many  features 
of  intractable  barbarism.  So  also  the  Aztec  rulers  of  Mexi- 
co at  the  period  of  the  Spanish  invasion,  exhibit,  with  their 
bloody  sacrifices  and  multiform  idolatry,  a  strong  contrast  to 
the  gentler  spirit  of  the  Toltecas  who  preceded  them,  and 
whose  arts  and  ingenuity  they  had  usurped.  Still  later  in  this 
intermediate  series  were  the  Natchez  tribes  of  the  Mississippi, 
who  retained  some  traces  of  the  refinement  of  their  Mexican 


I  , 


! 

! 

I 

! 

l! 

;    1 


16 


DISTINCTIVE   CHARACTERISTICS   OP  THE 


progenitors,  mingled  with  many  of  the  rudest  traits  of  savage 
life.  It  is  thus  that  wo  can  yet  trace  all  the  gradations,  link 
by  link,  which  connect  these  extremes  together  ;  showing 
that  although  the  civilization  of  these  nations  is  fast  becom- 
ing obsolete,  although  their  arts  and  sciences  have  passed  away 
with  a  former  generation,  still  the  people  remain  in  all  other 
respects  unchanged,  although  a  variety  of  causes  has  long 
been  urging  them  onward  to  deep  degradation  and  rapid  ex- 
tinction. Strange  as  these  intellectual  revolutions  may  seem, 
we  venture  to  assert  that,  all  circumstances  being  considered, 
they  are  not  greater  than  those  which  have  taken  place  be- 
tween the  ancient  and  modern  Greeks.  If  we  had  not  incon- 
testable evidence  to  prove  the  fact,  who  wouldbelieve  that  the 
ancestors  of  the  Greeks  of  the  present  day  were  the  very 
people  who  gave  glory  to  the  Age  of  Pericles ! 

It  may  still  be  insisted  that  the  religion  and  the  arts  of  the 
American  nations  point  to  Asia  and  Egypt ;  but  it  is  obvious, 
as  Humboldt  and  others  have  remarked,  that  these  resemblan- 
ces may  have  arisen  from  similar  wants  and  impulses,  acting 
on  nations  in  many  respects  similarly  circumstanced.  "It 
would  indeed  be  not  only  singular  but  wonderful  and  unac- 
countable," observes  Dr.  Caldwell,  "if  tribes  and  nations  of 
men,  possessed  of  similar  attributes  of  mind  and  body,  re- 
siding in  similar  climates  and  situations,  influenced  by  simi- 
lar states  of  society,  and  obliged  to  support  themselves  by 
similar  means,  in  similar  pursuits, — it  would  form  a  problem 
altogether  inexplicable  if  nations  thus  situated  did  not  con- 
tract habits  and  usages,  and,  instinctively  modes  of  life  and 
action,  possessing  towards  each  other  many  striking  resem- 
blances." Here  also  we  may  draw  an  illustration  from  the 
old  world  ;  for,  notwithstanding  the  comparative  proximity 
of  the  Hindoos  and  Egyptians,  and  the  evident  analogies  in 
their  architecture,  mythology  and  social  institutions,  there  is 
now  no  reason  tobelievethemcognatenations;  and  the  resem- 
blances to  which  we  have  adverted  have  probably  arisen  from 
mutual  intercourse,  independent  of  lineal  affiliation.  And  so 
with  the  nations  of  America.    The  casual  appearance  of  ship- 


I 


iw- 


E 

ts  of  savage 
ations,  link 
' ;  shovtring 
ast  becom- 
assed  away 
n  all  other 
s  has  long 
i  rapid  ex- 
may  seem, 
considered, 
place  be- 
not  incon- 
!ve  that  the 
3  the  very 

arts  of  the 
is  obvious, 
•esemblan- 
ses,  acting 
need.  "It 
and  unac- 
nations  of 

body,  re- 
i  by  simi- 
iselves  by 
a  problem 
i  not  con- 
»f  life  and 
ig  resem- 

from  the 
proximity 
alogies  in 
!,  there  is 
he  resem- 
isen  from 

And  so 
e  of  ship- 


ABORIOINAI.  RACE  OF  AMERICA. 


17 


wrecked  strangers  would  satisfactorily  explain  any  sameness 
in  the  arts  and  usages  of  the  one  and  the  other,  as  well  as 
those  words  which  are  often  quoted  in  evidence  of  a  common 
origin  of  language,  but  which  are  so  few  in  number  as  to  be 
readily  accounted  for  on  the  foregoing  principle. 

The  entire  number  of  common  words  is  said  to  be  one 
hundred  and  four  between  the  American  languages  and  those 
of  Asia  and  Australia ;  forty-three  with  those  of  Europe ;  and 
forty  with  those  of  Africa,  making  a  total  of  one  hundred  and 
eighty-seven  words.  But  taking  into  account  the  mere  coin- 
cidence by  which  some  of  these  analogies  may  be  reasonably 
explained,  I  would  inquire,  in  the  language  of  an  ingenious 
author,  whether  these  facts  are  sufficient  to  prove  a  connexion 
between  four  hundred  dialects  of  America  and  the  various 
languages  of  the  old  world  ? 

Even  so  late  as  the  year  1833,  a  Japanese  junk  was  wrecked 
on  the  northwest  coast  of  America,  and  several  of  the  crew 
escaped  unhurt  to  the  shore ;  and  I  have  myself  seen  some 
porcelain  vessels  which  were  saved  on  that  occasion.  Such 
casualties  may  have  occurred  in  the  early  periods  of  American 
history ;  and  it  requires  no  effort  of  the  imagination  to  con- 
ceive the  influence  these  persons  might  have  exerted,  in  va- 
rious respects,  had  they  been  introduced  to  the  ancient  courts 
of  Peru  and  Mexico.  They  might  have  contribnted  some- 
thing  to  extend  or  at  least  to  modify  the  arts  and  sciences 
of  the  people  among  whom  they  were  thrown,  and  have 
added  a  few  words  to  the  national  language. 

I  am  informed  by  my  friend  Mr.  Townsend,  who  passed 
several  months  among  the  tribes  of  the  Columbia  river,  that 
the  Indians  there  have  already  adopted  from  the  Canadian 
traders  several  French  words,  which  they  use  with  as  mucli 
freedom  as  if  they  belonged  to  their  own  vocabulary. 

It  follows  of  course  from  the  preceding  remarks  that  we 
consider  the  American  race  to  present  the  two  extremes  of 
intellectual  character;  the  one  capable  of  a  certain  degree  of 
civilization  and  refinement,  independent  of  extraneous  aids ; 
the  other  exhibiting  an  abasement  which  puts  all  mental  cul- 

2* 


i' 


18 


DISTINCTIVE  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE 


ture  at  defiance.  The  one  composed,  as  it  were,  of  a  hand- 
ful of  people  whose  superiority  and  consequent  acquisitions 
have  made  them  the  prey  of  covetous  destroyers;  the  other 
a  vast  multitude  of  savages  tribes  whose  very  barbarism  is 
working  their  destruction  from  within  and  without.  The 
links  that  connect  them  partake  of  the  fate  of  the  extremes 
themselves;  and  extinction  appears  to  be  the  unhappy,  but 
fast  approaching  doom  of  them  all. 

4.  Maritime  Enterprise. — One  of  the  most  characteristic 
traits  of  all  civilized  and  many  barbarous  communities,  is  the 
progress  of  maritime  adventure.  The  Caucasian  nations  of 
every  age  present  a  striking  illustration  of  this  fact :  their 
sails  are  spread  on  every  octtan,  and  the  fablud  voyage  of  the 
Argonauts  is  but  a  type  of  their  achievements  from  remote 
antiquity  to  the  present  time.  Hence  their  undisputed  do- 
minion of  the  sea,  and  their  successful  colonization  of  every 
quarter  of  the  globe.  The  Mongolians  and  Malays,  though 
active  and  predatory,  and  proverbially  aquatic  in  their  habits, 
are  deficient  in  that  mechanical  invention  which  depends  on 
a  knowledge  of  mathematical  principles;  while  they  seem 
also  incapable  of  those  mental  combinations  which  are  re- 
quisite to  a  perfect  acquaintance  with  naval  tactics.  The 
Negro,  whose  observant  and  imitative  powers  enable  him  to 
acquire  with  ease  the  details  of  seamanship,  readily  becomes 
a  mariner,  but  rarely  a  commander;  and  history  is  silent  on 
the  nautical  prowess  of  his  race.  Far  behind  all  these  is  the 
man  of  America.  Savage  or  civilized,  the  sea  for  him  has 
had  few  charms,  and  his  navigation  has  been  almost  exclu- 
sively restricted  to  lakes  and  rivers.  A  canoe  excavated  from 
a  single  log,  was  the  principal  vessel  in  use  in  the  new  world 
at  the  period  of  its  discovery.  Even  the  predatory  Charibs, 
who  were  originally  derived  from  the  forests  of  Guayana. 
possessed  no  other  boat  than  this  simple  contrivance,  in  which 
they  seldom  ventured  out  of  sight  of  land ;  and  never  ex- 
cepting in  the  tranquil  periods  of  the  tropical  seas,  when  they 
sailed  from  shore  to  shore,  the  terror  of  the  feebler  natives  of 


4 


ABORIGINAL  RACE  OF  AMERICA. 


19 


)f  a  hand- 
cquisitioiis 
the  other 
rbarism  is 
out.  The 
!  extremes 
lappy,  but 

iracteristic 
ties,  is  the 
nations  of 
act :  their 
age  of  the 
tn  remote 
puted  do- 
i  of  every 
;s,  though 
eir  habits, 
3pends  on 
ley  seem 
1  are  re- 
jcs.     The 
)le  him  to 
becomes 
silent  on 
ese  is  the 
him  has 
ist  exclu- 
ited  from 
w  world 
Charibs, 
luayana, 
in  whicii 
ever  ex- 
hen  they 
atives  of 


M 


the  surrounding  islands.  The  canoes  of  the  Aroiiacs  of  Cuba 
were  not  more  ingeniously  contrived  than  those  of  the  ruder 
Charibs ;  which  is  the  more  surprising  since  their  island  was 
the  centre  of  a  great  archipelago,  and  their  local  position, 
therefore,  in  all  respects  calculated  to  develope  any  latent 
nautical  propensities.  When  Cortez  approached  in  his  ships 
the  Mexican  harbor  of  Tobasco,  he  was  astonished  to  find 
even  there,  the  sea-port,  as  it  were,  of  a  mighty  empire,  the 
same  primitive  model  in  the  many  vessels  that  skimmed  the 
sea  before  him.  Let  us  follow  this  conqueror  to  the  imperial 
city  itself,  surrounded  by  lakes,  and  possessed  of  warlike 
defences  superior  to  those  of  any  other  American  people.  The 
Spanish  commander,  foreseeing  that  to  possess  the  lake  would 
be  to  hold  the  keys  of  the  city,  had  fifteen  brigantines  built 
at  Tlascala ;  and  these  being  subsequently  taken  to  peices, 
were  borne  on  men's  shoulders  to  the  lake  of  Mexico,  and 
there  re-constructed  and  launched.  The  war  thus  com- 
menced as  a  naval  contest ;  and  the  Spanish  historians,  while 
they  eulogize  the  valour  of  the  Mexicans,  are  constrained  to 
admit  the  utter  futility  of  their  aquatic  defences:  for  although 
the  subjects  of  Montezuma,  knowing  and  anticipating  the 
nature  of  the  attack,  came  forth  from  the  city  in  several 
thousand  boats,  these  were  so  feebly  constructed,  and  man- 
aged with  so  little  dexterity,  that  in  a  few  hours  they  were 
all  destroyed,  dispersed  or  taken  by  the  enemy. 

Turning  from  the  Mexicans,  we  naturally  look  to  the  Pe- 
ruvians for  some  further  advances  in  nautical  skill  ;  but 
although  their  country  was  comparatively  a  narrow  strip  of 
land,  with  an  extended  frontier  on  the  ocean,  we  find  even 
here  the  same  primitive  vessels  and  the  same  timid  naviga- 
tors. It  is  indeed  questionable  whether  they  ever  designedly 
lost  sight  of  land ;  nor  does  it  appear  that  they  made  the  sea 
subservient  to  their  conquests.  These  were  uniformly  prose- 
cuted by  land,  excepting  perhaps  those  of  the  Incas,  in  their 
efforts  to  subdue  the  fierce  islanders  of  Titicaca ;  but  even 
the  partial  pen  of  Garcilaso  limits  all  these  inventions  to  log 
canoes  and  rafts  of  reeds ;  nor  does  it  appear  that  the  inge- 


•0 


DISTINCTIVE   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE 


nuity  of  these  people,  so  abundantly  displayed  on  many  other 
occasions,  had  ever  added  au  improvement  to  the  primeval 
germ  of  navigation. 

Nor  are  those  tribes  which  depend  almost  wholly  on  fish 
for  their  daily  subsistence,  much  belter  provided  than  the 
others.  The  Chenouks  and  other  nations  on  the  western 
coast  of  America,  have  boats  hewn  with  comparative  inge- 
nuity from  a  single  plank,  and  compared  to  a  butcher's  tray; 
but  in  these  frail  vessels  they  keep  cautiously  within  sight  of 
land,  and  never  venture  on  the  water  unless  the  weather  is 
favorable  to  their  enterprize.  It  is  to  be  observed,  however, 
that  when  the  Indians  are  compelled  to  carry  their  boats 
across  portages  from  river  to  river,  they  construct  them  of 
birch  bark,  and  with  a  degree  of  ingenuity  and  adaptation 
much  above  their  usual  resources.  Thus  boats  that  would 
carry  nine  men  do  not  weigh  over  sixty  pounds,  and  are  there- 
fore conveyed  with  ease  to  considerabit  distances.  This  is 
almost  the  only  deviation  from  the  log  canoe,  and  is  equally 
characteristic ;  for  it  is  common  among  the  interior  Indians  of 
both  North  and  South  America,  and  was  noticed  by  De  Soils 
in  the  Mexican  provinces. 

Inferior  in  these  respects  to  the  other  tribes  are  the  Fue- 
gians ;  a  people  whom  perpetual  exposure  and  privation,  and 
the  influence  of  an  inhospitable  climate,  have  reduced  to  a 
feeble  intelligence, — the  moral  childhood  of  their  race.  Not 
even  the  stimulus  of  necessity  has  been  able  to  excite  that 
ingenuity  which  would  so  amply  provide  for  all  their  wants; 
and  they  starve  amid  the  abundant  stores  of  the  ocean  because 
they  possess  no  adequate  means  for  obtaining  them.  The 
Falkland  and  Malouine  islands,  in  but  fifty  degrees  of  South 
latitude,  South  Georgia,  New  South  Shetland,  and  some 
smaller  islands  in  nearly  the  same  parallel,  were,  at  their  dis- 
covery, entirely  uninhabited ;  nor  is  there  any  evidence  of 
their  ever  having  been  visited  by  any  American  tribe.  Yet 
they  possess  seals  and  other  marine  animals  in  vast  numbers, 
and  in  these  and  all  other  respects  appear  to  be  not  less  pro- 
ductive than  the  region  inhabited  by  the  Eskimaux. 


ABORIGINAL   RACE   OF  AMERICA. 


•1 


nany  other 
I  primeval 

tlly  on  fish 
I  than  the 
le  western 
itive  inge- 
her's  tray; 
in  sight  of 
veather  is 
,  however, 
tieir  boats 
ct  them  of 
adaptation 
hat  would 
1  are  there- 
This  is 
is  equally 
Indians  of 
y  De  Solis 

the  Fue- 

ation,  and 

uced  to  a 

ice.    Not 

Kcite  that 

iir  wants; 

n  because 

!m.    The 

of  South 

ind  some 

their  dis- 

dence  of 

be.    Yet 

numbers, 

less  pro. 


It  is  generally  supposed  fh»t  nautical  onterprize  results  from 
the  necessity  of  the  case,  in  natiuns  proximate  to  or  surrounded 
by  the  sea.  We  have  seen,  however,  >hat  the  natives  of  the 
islands  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  were  exceptions  to  tho  rule  ; 
and  we  find  another  not  less  remarkabli^  in  the  archipelago 
of  Chiloe,  on  the  coast  of  Chili  These  islands  are  seen  from 
the  shore,  and  have  a  large  Indian  population,  which  de- 
pends for  subsistence  on  fish  taken  from  the  surrounding 
ocean;  yet  even  so  late  as  the  close  of  the  past  century,  after 
more  than  two  hundred  years  of  communication  with  the 
Spaniards,  their  boats  appear  not  to  have  been  the  least  im- 
proved from  their  original  model.  Tho  padre  Gonzalez  de 
Agueros,  who  resided  many  years  among  these  islanders,  de- 
scribes their  canoes  as  composed  of  five  or  six  boards,  nar- 
rowed at  the  ends,  and  lashed  together  with  coruj,  the  seams 
being  filled  with  moss.  They  have  sails,  but  neither  keel 
nor  deck ;  and  in  these  frail  and  primitive  vessels  the  inhabi- 
tants commit  themselves  to  a  tempestuous  sea  in  search  of 
their  daily  food.  The  same  miserable  vessels  are  found  in 
exclusive  use  in  the  yet  more  southern  archipelago  of  Guai 
tecas,  in  which  a  sparse  population  is  distributed  over  eight 
hundred  islands,  and  depends  solely  on  the  sea  for  subsistence. 
The  mechanical  ingenuity  of  these  people,  therefore,  is  not 
greater  than  that  of  the  other  Indians ;  but  from  constant 
practice  with  their  wretched  boats,  they  have  acquired  a  dex- 
terity in  the  use  of  them  unknown  to  any  other  tribe,  and  in 
some  instances,  under  the  direction  of  the  Spaniards,  have 
become  comparatively  good  mariners. 

De  Azara  mentions  a  curious  fact  in  illustration  of  the  pre- 
sent inquiry.  He  declares  thai  when  his  countrymen  disco- 
vered the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  they  found  its  shores  inhabited  by 
two  distinct  Indian  nations,  the  Charruas  on  the  north,  and 
the  Patagonians  on  the  south ;  yet  strange  to  say,  these  rest- 
less people  had  never  communicated  with  each  other  for  war 
or  for  peace,  for  good  or  for  evil,  because  they  had  neither 
boats  or  canoes  in  which  to  cross  the  river. 

The  Indian  is  not  defective  in  courage  even  on  the  water ; 


22 


DISTINCTIVE    CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE 


but  he  lacks  invention  to  constn-'ct  better  vessels,  and  tact  to 
manage  them.  When  he  has  been  compelled  to  defend  him- 
self in  his  frail  canoe,  he  has  done  so  with  the  indomitable 
spirit  of  his  race  ;  yet  with  all  his  love  of  war  and  strata- 
gem, I  cannot  find  any  account  of  a  naval  combat  in  which 
Europeans  have  borne  no  part. 

The  Payaguas  Indians  at  one  period  took  revenge  on  the 
Spaniards  by  infesting  the  rivers  of  Paraguay,  in  canoes 
which  they  managed  with  much  adroitness;  and  darting  from 
their  lurking  places,  they  intercepted  the  trading  vessels  going 
to  and  from  Buenos  Ayres,  robbing  them  of  their  goods,  and 
destroying  their  crews  without  mercy.  Such  was  their  suc- 
cess in  these  river  piracies,  that  it  required  years  of  war  and 
stratagem  on  the  part  of  the  Spaniards  to  subdue  them. 

The  only  example  of  a  naval  contest  that  I  have  met  with, 
is  described  by  Dobrizhofl'er  to  have  taken  place  between  the 
so-called  Mamalukes  of  St.  Paulo,  in  Brazil,  and  their  enemies 
the  Guaranies.  The  former  were  a  banditti  derived  from  the 
intermarriage  of  the  dregs  of  Europeans  of  all  nations  with 
the  surrounding  Indians ;  and,  assisted  by  two  thousand  of 
their  native  allies,  they  came  forth  to  battle  in  three  hundred 
boats.  The  Guaranies,  on  the  other  hand,  had  five  ships 
armed  with  cannon.  But  it  is  obvious,  from  this  statement, 
that  European  vessels  and  European  tactics  gave  thr,  battle 
all  its  importance.  It  took  place  on  the  river  Mborore,  in  Pa- 
raguay;  but  after  all,  both  parties  finding  themselves  out  of 
their  element  on  the  water,  at  length  abandoned  their  vessels 
by  mutual  agreement,  and  fought  to  desperation  on  shore. 

It  is  said  of  the  inhabitants  of  New  Holland,  that  their  only 
substitute  for  a  boat  is  a  short  and  solid  log,  on  which  they 
place  themselves  astride,  and  thus  venture  upon  the  water. 
Even  this,  the  humblest  of  all  human  contrivances,  was  in 
use  among  the  Indians  of  the  Bay  of  Honduras,  who  had 
learned  to  balance  themselves  so  dexterously  standing  upon 
a  log,  as  to  be  able  in  this  position  to  pursue  their  customary 
occupation  of  fishing  in  the  adjacent  sea. 

In  fine,  his  long  contact  with  European  arts,  has  furnished 


ABORIGINAL   RACE    OF  AMERICA. 


23 


and  tact  to 
efend  him- 
ndomitable 
and  strata- 
it  in  which 

ige  on  the 
in  canoes 
irting  from 
ssels  going 
goods,  and 
their  suc- 
f  war  and 
hem. 
met  with, 
Jtween  the 
iir  enemies 
i  from  the 
tions  with 
lousand  of 
e  hundred 
five  ships 
statement, 
thn  battle 
•re,  in  Pa- 
v^es  out  of 
eir  vessels 
1  shore, 
their  only 
hich  they 
he  water, 
s,  was  in 
who  had 
ling  upon 
ustomary 

'urnished 


the  Indian  with  no  additional  means  of  contending  with  the 
watery  element ;  and  his  log  canoe  and  boat  of  birch  bark, 
are  precisely  the  same  as  at  the  landing  of  Columbus. 

5.  Manner  of  Interment.  Veneration  for  the  dead  is  a 
sentiment  natural  to  man,  whether  civilized  or  savage:  but 
the  manner  of  expressing  it,  and  of  performing  the  rites  of  se- 
pulture, differ  widely  in  different  nations.  No  offence  excites 
greater  exasperation  in  the  breast  of  the  Indian  than  the  vio- 
lation of  the  graves  of  his  people  ;  and  he  has  even  been 
known  to  disinter  the  bones  of  his  ancestors,  and  bear  them 
with  him  to  a  great  distance,  when  circumstances  have  com- 
pelled him  to  make  a  permanent  cliange  of  residence. 

But  the  manner  of  inhumation  is  so  different  from  that 
practised  by  the  rest  of  mankind,  and  at  the  same  time  so  pre- 
valent among  the  American  nations,  as  to  constitute  another 
means  of  identifying  them  as  parts  of  a  single  and  peculiar 
race.  This  practice  consists  in  burying  the  dead  in  the  sit- 
ting posture;  the  legs  being  flexed  against  the  abdomen,  the 
arms  also  bent,  and  the  chin  supported  on  the  palms  of  the 
hands.  The  natives  of  Patagonia,  Brazil,  and  Guayana ;  the 
insular  and  other  Charibs,  the  Florida  tribes,  the  great  chain 
of  Lenape  nations,  the  inhabitants  of  both  sides  of  the  Rocky 
mountains,  and  those  also  of  Canada  and  the  vast  Northwest- 
ern region,  all  conform,  with  occasional  exceptions,  to  this 
conventional  rite.  So  also  with  the  demi-civilized  commu- 
nities from  the  most  distant  epochs ;  for  the  ancient  Peru- 
vians, to  whom  we  have  already  so  frequently  referred,  pos 
sessed  this  singular  usage,  as  is  verified  by  their  numberless 
remains  in  the  sepulchres  of  Titicaca.  They  did  not,  how- 
ever, bury  their  dead,  but  placed  them  on  the  floors  of  their 
tombs,  seated,  and  sewed  up  in  sacks.  The  later  Peruvians 
of  the  Inca  race  followed  the  same  custom,  sometimes  inhum- 
ing the  body,  at  others  placing  it  in  a  tower  above  ground. 
Garcilaso  de  la  Vega  informs  us,  that  in  the  year  1560  he  saw 
five  embalmed  bodies  of  the  royal  family,  all  of  whom  were 
seated  in  the  Indian  manner,  with  their  hands  crossed  upon 


t 


I     ; 
'    I 

\    ! 

i       ' 

n 

■   y 


i  I 


r'' 


!'■! 


24 


DISTINCTIVE    CHARACTERISTICS  OP   THE 


the  breast,  and  their  heads  bent  forward.  So  also  the  Mexi- 
cans from  the  most  ancient  time  had  adopted  the  same  usage, 
which  Avas  equally  the  privilege  of  the  king  and  his  people. 
The  most  remarkable  exception  to  the  practice  in  question, 
is  that  in  v/hich  the  body  is  dissected  before  interment,  the 
bones  alone  being  deposited  in  the  earth.  This  extraordinary 
rite  has  prevailed  among  various  tribes  from  the  southern  to  the 
northern  extremity  of  their  range,  in  Patagonia,  Brazil,  Flo- 
rida,and  Missouri,  and  indeed  in  many  intervening  localities; 
but  even  in  these  instances,  the  bones  are  often  retained  in 
their  relative  position  by  preserving  the  ligaments,  and  then 
interred  in  the  attitude  of  a  person  seated.  An  example 
among  very  many  others  is  recorded  by  the  Baron  Humboldt, 
in  his  visit  to  a  cavern-cemetery  of  the  Atures  Indians,  at  the 
sources  of  the  Orinoco;  wherein  he  found  hundreds  of  skele- 
tons  preserved  each  in  a  separate  basket,  the  bones  being  held 
together  by  their  natural  connexions,  and  the  whole  diposed 
in  the  conventional  posture  of  which  we  are  speaking. 

I  am  well  aware  that  this  practice  has  been  noticed  by 
some  navigators  among  the  Polynesian  islands;  the  instances, 
however,  appear  so  few  as  rather  to  form  exceptions  to  the 
rule,  like  those  of  the  Nassamones  of  northern  Africa  :  but  I 
have  sought  for  it  in  vain  among  the  continental  Asiatics,  who, 
if  they  ever  possessed  it,  would  have  yet  preserved  it  among 
some  at  least  of  their  numberless  tribes. 

After  this  rapid  view  of  the  principal  leading  characteris- 
tics of  the  American  race,  let  us  now  briefly  inquire  whether 
they  denote  an  exotic  origin ;  or  whether  there  is  not  internal 
evidence  that  this  race  is  as  strictly  aboriginal  to  America  as 
the  Mongolian  is  to  Asia,  or  the  Negro  to  Africa. 

And  first,  we  turn  to  the  Mongolian  race,  which  by  a 
somewhat  general  consent  is  admitted  to  include  the  Polar 
nations,  and  among  them  the  Eskimanx  of  our  continent.  It 
is  a  very  prevalent  opinion  that  the  latter  people,  who  obvi- 
ously belong  to  the  Polar  family  of  Asia,  pass  insensibly  into 
the  American  race,  and  thus  form  the  connecting  link  be- 
tween the  two.  But  without  repeating  what  has  already  been 


I 


,M 


ABORIGINAL  RACE  07  AMERICA. 


25 


the  Mexi- 

me  usage, 
is  people, 
question, 
ment,  the 
aordinary 
lerntothe 
'azil,  Flo- 
localities; 
itained  in 
and  then 
example 
[umboldt, 
ns,  at  the 
I  of  skele- 
leing  held 
e  diposed 

)ticed  by 
nstances, 
is  to  the 
but  I 
ics,  who, 
it  among 

iracteris- 

whether 

internal 

lerica  as 

eh  by  a 
Polar 
lent.  It 
10  obvi- 
bly  into 
ink  be- 
iy  been 


■'>)• 


said  in  reference  to  the  Indian,  we  may  briefly  advert,  for  the 
purpose  of  comparison,  to  the  widely  different  cbaracteristics 
of  the  Eskimaux.  These  people  are  remarkable  for  a  large 
and  rather  elongated  head,  which  is  low  in  front  and  project- 
ing behind ;  the  great  width  and  flatness  of  the  face  is  noted 
by  all  travellers  ;  their  eyes  are  small  and  black,  the  mouth 
small  and  round,  and  the  nose  is  so  diminutive  and  depressed, 
that  on  looking  at  a  skull  in  profile  the  nasal  bones  are  hardly 
visible.  Their  complexion,  moreover,  is  comparatively  fair, 
and  there  is  a  tendency  throughout  life  to  fulness  and  obesity. 
The  traveller  Hearne,  while  in  company  with  a  tribe  of  north- 
ern Indians,  mentions  a  circumstance  which  is  at  least  curious, 
because  it  shows  the  light  in  which  the  Eskimaux  are  regard- 
ed by  their  proximate  neighbors  on  the  south.  He  was  the 
unwilling  witness  of  a  premeditated  and  unprovoked  massa- 
cre of  an  entire  encampment  of  Eskimaux,  men,  women,  and 
children ;  and  it  is  curious  to  remark  that  the  aggressors  apolo- 
gised for  their  cmelty  not  only  on  the  plea  of  an  ancient  feud, 
but  by  asserting  that  their  unoffending  victims  were  a  people 
of  different  nature  and  origin  from  themselves,  even  in  respect 
to  sexual  conformation. 

The  moral  character  of  the  Eskimaux  differs  from  that  of  the 
Indian  chiefly  in  the  absence  of  the  courage,  cunning,  cruel- 
ty and  improvidence  so  habitual  in  the  red  man,  who,  in  turn, 
is  inferior  in  mechanical  ingenuity,  and  above  all  in  aquatic 
exercises.  The  Eskimau,  notwithstanding  the  intense  cold 
of  his  climate, has  been  called  an  amphibious  animal,  so  readi- 
ly and  equally  does  he  adapt  himself  to  the  land  or  water. 
His  boat  is  an  evidence  of  mechanical  skill,  and  the  adroit 
manner  in  which  he  manages  it  is  a  proverb  among  mariners. 
The  women  are  not  less  expert  and  enterprising  than  the 
men  :  each  possesses  a  boat  of  peculiar  and  distinctive  con- 
struction ;  and  Crantz  informs  us  that  children  of  the  tender 
age  of  seven  or  eight  years  commence  the  unassisted  man- 
agement of  their  own  little  vessels. 

How  strongly  do  these  and  other  traits  which  might  be 
enumerated,  contrast  with  those  of  the  Indian,  and  enforce  aa 


m 


!l^' 


ill 


\M' 


;1 


216 


DISTINCTIVE   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE 


ethnographic  dissimilarity  which  is  confirmed  at  every  step 
of  the  mvestigation ! 

Some  writers,  however,  think  they  detect  in  the  Fuegian 
a  being  whose  similar  physical  condition  has  produced  in  him 
all  the  characteristics  of  the  Eskimau ;  but  we  confidently 
assert  that  the  latter  is  vastly  superior  both  in  his  exterior 
organization  and  mental  aptitude.  In  truth  the  two  may  be 
readily  contrasted  but  not  easily  compared.  The  Fuegian 
bears  a  coarse  but  striking  resemblance  to  the  race  to  which 
he  belongs,  and  every  feature  of  his  character  assists  in  fixing 
his  identify.  The  extremes  of  cold,  with  their  many  attend- 
ing privations,  by  brutifyiug  the  features  and  distorting  the 
expression  of  the  face,  reduce  man  to  a  mere  caricature,  a 
repulsive  perversion  of  his  original  type.  Compare  the  Mon- 
gols of  Central  Asia  and  China,  with  the  Polar  nations  of 
Siberia.  Compare  also  the  Hottentot  with  the  contiguous 
black  tribes  on  the  north ;  the  Tasmanian  negro  with  the 
proper  New  Hollander ;  and  lastly,  the  wretched  Fuegian 
with  the  Indian  beyond  the  Magellanic  strait ;  and  we  find  in 
every  instance  how  much  more  the  man  of  a  cold  and  inhos- 
pitable clime  is  degraded,  physically  and  intellectually,  than 
his  more  fortunate  but  afliliated  neighbor.  The  operation  of 
these  perverting  causes  through  successive  ages  of  time,  has 
obscured  but  not  obliterated  those  lineaments  which,  however 
modified,  point  to  an  aboriginal  stock. 

Without  attempting  to  enter  the  fathomless  depths  of  phi- 
lology, I  am  bound  to  advert  to  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Gallatin, 
that  all  the  nations  from  Cape  Horn  to  the  Arctic  Ocean, 
have  languages  which  possess  "a  distinct  character  common 
to  all,  and  apparently  differing  from  those  of  the  other  conti- 
nent with  which  we  are  acquainted;"  an  analogy,  moreover, 
which  is  not  of  an  indefinite  kind,  but  consists,  for  the  most 
part,  in  peculiar  conjugational  modes  of  modifying  the  verbs 
by  the  insertion  of  syllables.  It  has  been  insisted  by  some 
"writers  that  this  analogy  proves  the  cognate  relation  of  the 
Eskimaux  and  Indians.  This,  however,  is  a  mere  postulate ; 
for  from  the  evidence  already  adduced  in  respect  to  the  eth- 


';i 


ABORIGINAL  RACE  OF  AMERICA. 


27 


every  step 

he  Fuegian 
iced  in  him 
confidently 
liis  exterior 
^vo  may  be 
le  Fuegian 
e  to  which 
Its  in  fixing 
iny  attend- 
storting  the 
iricature,  a 
s  the  Mon- 

nations  of 
contiguous 
►  with  the 
d  Fuegian 
we  find  in 
and  inhos- 
lally,  than 
aeration  of 

time,  has 
,  however 

:hs  of  phi- 

Gallatin, 

tic  Ocean, 

r  common 

her  conti- 

moreover, 

the  most 

the  verbs 

by  some 

on  of  the 

)ostulate ; 

)  the  eth- 


nographic difference  between  these  people,  we  have  a  right 
to  infer  that  the  resemblance  in  their  respective  languages 
lias  not  been  derived  by  the  greater  from  the  lesser  source, — 
not  by  the  Americans  from  the  Eskimaux,  but  the  reverse  : 
for  the  Asiatics  having  arrived  at  various  and  distant  periods, 
and  in  small  parties,  would  naturally,  if  not  unavoidably, 
adopt  more  or  less  of  the  language  of  the  people  among  whom 
they  settled,  until  their  own  dialects  finally  merged  in  those 
of  the  Chepewyan  and  other  Indians  who  bound  them  on  the 
south. 

The  Eskimaux,  it  may  be  remarked,  at  the  present  time 
extend  much  farther  south,  and  are  much  more  numerous  on 
the  western  than  on  the  eastern  coast  of  America,  being  found 
as  low  down  as  Mount  St.  Elias;  south  of  which,  contrary  to 
what  is  observed  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  continent,  they 
become  more  or  less  blended  with  the  Indian  tribes,  and  have 
imparted  to  the  latter  some  portion  of  their  mechanical  inge- 
nuity. This  difference  in  the  extent  and  influence  of  the 
western  and  eastern  Eskimaux,  is  explained  by  the  proximity 
of  the  former  to  Asia;  and  a  redundant  population  has  even 
forced  some  of  them  back  to  the  parent  hive,  whither  they 
have  carried  a  dialect  derived  from  the  cognate  tribes  of 
America.  Such  are  the  Tsutchchi,  who  thus  form  a  hnk  be- 
tween the  Polar  nations  of  the  two  continents. 

It  is  a  common  opinion,  also,  that  America  has  been  peo- 
pled by  the  proper  Mongols  of  central  and  eastern  Asia ;  and 
volumes  have  been  written  on  supposed  affinities,  physical, 
moral  and  intellectual,  to  sustain  this  hypothesis.  We  have 
already  glancod  at  the  Mongolian  features,  as  seen,  though 
rudely  and  extravagantly  developed,  in  the  Polar  nations ;  but 
there  are  some  characters  so  prevalent  as  to  pervade  all  the 
ramifications  of  the  great  Mongolian  stock,  from  the  repulsive 
Calmuck  to  the  polished  and  more  delicately  featured  Chi- 
nese. These  are  the  small,  depressed,  and  seemingly  broken 
nose ;  the  oblique  position  of  the  eye,  which  is  drawn  up  at 
the  external  angle;  the  great  width  between  the  cheek  bones, 
which  are  not  only  high  but  expanded  laterally ;  the  arched 


fl8 


DISTINCTIVE   CHARACTERISTICS  OF   THE 


iiUi 


ii     i 


and  linear  eyebrow;  and  lastly,  the  complexion,  which  it 
invariably  some  shade  of  yellow  or  olive,  and  almost  equally 
distant  from  the  fair  tint  of  the  European  and  the  red  hue  of 
the  Indian.    Without  attempting  a  detailed  comparison,  we 
may  briefly  observe  that  the  Mongolian,  in  his  various  local- 
ities, is  distinguished  for  his  imitative  powers  and  mechanical 
ingenuity,  and  for  a  certain  degree  of  nautical  skill,  in  which, 
as  we  have  suggested,  he  holds  a  place  next  to  the  nations  of 
the  Caucasian  race.  In  fine,  we  are  constrained  to  believe  that 
there  is  no  more  resemblance  between  the  Indian  and  Mon- 
gol in  respect  to  arts,  architecture,  mental  features  and  social 
usa§,es,  than  exists  between  any  other  two  distinct  races  of 
mankind.    Mr.  Ranking  has  written  an  elaborate  treatise  to 
prove  that  the  Mongols,  led  by  a  descendant  of  Genghis 
Khan,  conquered  Peru  and  Mexico  in  the  thirteenth  century ; 
but  in  the  whole  range  of  English  literature  there  caimot  be 
found  a  work  more  replete  with  distorted  facts  and  illogical 
reasoning.    The  author  begins  by  the  singular  assertion  that 
*<when  Cuzco  was  founded  by  Manco  Capac,none  of  the  civ- 
ilization introduced  by  the  Peruvians  and  Mexicans  was  in 
existence ;"  thus  overlooking  the  cultivated  tribes  who  pre- 
ceded the  Inca  family,  and  disregarding  also  the  various  demi- 
eivilized  nations  which  successively  followed  each  other  in 
Mexico,  before  that  country  fell  under  the  rule  of  the  Aztecs.* 
Mr.  Ranking  introduces  the  Mongols  in  large  ships,  with  all 
the  appliances  of  war,  not  even  excepting  elephants ;  and  in 
order  that  the  Tartar  general  may  correspond  to  Manco  Ca- 
pac,  he  is  made  to  enter  Peru  by  the  Lake  Titicaca,  upwards 
of  an  hundred  miles  from  the  sea.     Such  statements  may 
seem  too  absurd  for  sober  discussion  ;  but  they  are  not  more 
so  than  various  other  subterfuges  which  have  been  resorted  to 
in  explanation  of  the  precise  manner  in  which  the  new  world 
has  been  peopled  from  the  old. 

But  there  is  not  a  shadow  of  evidence  that  the  Mongols 
ever  reached  America  in  ships  excepting  by  mere  accident  r 
and  therafore  their  number  must  have  alwavs  be-n  too  small. 
and  too  badly  provided,  to  have  dreamt  of  conquest  in  a  coun- 

*  Crania  Americana,  p.  96. 


,  which  is 

ost  equally- 
red  hue  of 
irison,  we 
ious  local- 
nechanical 
,  in  which, 
nations  of 
elieve  that 
and  Mon- 
and  social 
t  races  of 
treatise  to 
f  Genghis 
li  century ; 
cannot  be 
d  illogical 
jrtion  that 
of  the  civ- 
is  was  in 
who  pre- 
ous  demi- 
other  in 
i  Aztecs.* 
s,  with  all 
ts ;  and  in 
anco  Ca- 
,  upwards 
ents  may 
not  more 
esorted  to 
ew  world 

Mongols 
accident  - 

00  small, 
n  a  coun- 


ABORIOINAL  RACE  OF  AMERICA. 


29 


■f 


try  which  has  had  a  population  of  millions  from  immemorial 
time. 

There  is  a  third  view  of  this  question  which  remains  to  be 
noticed;  for, allowing  that  the  Eskimaux  and  the  cognate 
Polar  nations  are  not  the  progenitors  of  the  American  race ; 
and  admitting  also  that  the  Mongols  of  central  Asia  could 
nev'er  have  arrived  in  any  requisite  number  by  a  direct  voyage 
from  one  cotitiiient  to  the  othec,yet  it  is  supposed  by  many 
learned  men  that  these  Mongols  could  have  reached  Ame- 
rica by  slow  journeys  from  their  own  distant  country ; 
and  that  their  hieroglyphic  charts  delineate  many  of  the 
incidents  of  this  protracted  migration :  but  there  is  no 
positive  evidence  in  regard  to  direction  and  localities, 
although  these,  by  a  very  general  consent,  are  placed 
in  the  north  and  northwest.  Cabrera,  on  the  contrary, 
after  the  most  paiient  research,  aided  by  unusual  facilities  for 
investigation,  traces  the  primal  seat  of  the  civilized  nations 
of  America  to  southern  Mexico,  where  the  ruined  cities  of 
Copan,  Uxmal  and  Palenque,  point  to  an  epoch  seemingly 
much  more  remote  than  any  antiquities  contained  in  or  near 
the  present  metropolis  of  that  country. 

If  we  conventionally  adopt  the  more  prevalent  opinion,  and 
trace  the  Aztecs  back  to  California  or  the  strait,  we  have  after 
all  but  a  vague  tradition  of  a  handful  of  persons  who,  for  all 
we  know  to  the  contrary,  may  have  been  as  indigenous  to 
America  as  any  people  in  it.  The  aborigines  of  this  conti- 
nent have  always  been  of  nomadic  and  migratory  habits;  a 
fact  which  is  amply  illustrated  in  the  traditional  history  of 
Mexico  itself  So  also  with  the  barbarous  tribes ;  for  the  Le- 
nape,  the  Florida  Indians,  the  Iroquois,  the  insular  Charibs  and 
many  others,  were  intruding  nations,  who,  driven  by  want,  or 
impelled  by  an  innate  and  restless  activity,  had  deserted  their 
own  possessions  to  seize  upon  others  which  did  not  belong  to 
them.  These  nations,  like  their  more  polished  neighbors, 
were  in  the  constant  practice  of  recording  the  events  of  their 
battles  and  hunting  excursions  by  hieroglyphic  symbols, 
made,  according  to  circumstances,  on  trees,  skins  or  rocks : 

3» 


iitii 
1 1  ill 


J!! 


»::| 


90 


DISTINCTIVE   CHARACTERISTICS    OF  THE 


and  this  rude  but  expressive  language  of  signs  has  been  justly 
regarded  as  the  origin  of  the  picture-writing  of  the  Mexicans. 
**The  difference  between  them,"  observes  Dr.  Coates,  "docs 
not  appear  greater  than  must  necessarily  exist  between  igno- 
rant warriors  and  hunters  in  a  simple  form  of  society,  and 
those  of  the  members  of  a  complicated  state  possessed  of 
property,  and  even,  as  discribed  by  Clavigero,  of  a  species  of 
science  and  literature." 

This  gradation  of  the  ruder  into  the  more  perfect  art  of 
hieroglyphic  writing,  not  only  affords  an  additional  argument 
for  the  unity  of  origin  of  the  American  nations,  but  also  con- 
stitutes another  proof  of  the  distinctness  of  their  race ;  for 
this  picture-writing,  even  in  its  most  elaborate  forms,  bears  no 
other  than  the  most  general  resemblance  to  any  exotic  hiero- 
glyphics, nor  indeed  has  a  real  equivalent  been  detected  be- 
tween them.  We  may  therefore  be  permitted  to  repeat  our 
conviction  that  the  annals  of  the  Mexicans  bear  no  indispu- 
table evidence  of  immigration  from  Asia;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  they  are  susceptible  of  as  many  different  interpre- 
tations as  there  are  theories  to  be  supported. 

It  is  remarked  by  Dr.  Coates,  that  I  he  Mongolian  theory, 
which  we  are  now  considering,  is  objectionable  on  account  of 
its  vastness.  "To  derive  the  popuiatiou  of  the  whole  of  the 
American  continent  from  the  northwestern  angle,  requires  the 
supposition  of  a  continued  chain  of  colonies  during  a  long 
succession  of  ages,  acquiring  and  using  an  immense  diversity 
of  languages,  and  pursuing  each  other  along  the  huge  ridge 
of  the  great  American  Andes,  from  Prince  William's  Sound 
in  the  far  north,  to  the  extremity  of  Terra  del  Fuego,  a  dis. 
tance  of  one  hundred  and  fifteen  degrees  of  latitude,  or  of 
eight  thousand  miles.  This  long  succession  of  occurrences 
is  absolutely  necessary  to  the  theory ;  which  is  thus  liable  to 
the  difficulty  of  requiring  two  extensive  hypotheses  at  once. 
Several  hundred  colonies  must  be  imagined  to  have  issued 
from  the  same  point  all  completely  isolated,  as  their  languages 
abundantly  ishow,  unconnected  by  peaceful  intercourse,  but 
urging  each  other  by  war  and  the  destruction  of  the  game, 
throughout  a  third  part  of  the  circumference  of  the  globe. 


ABORIGINAL   RACK   OF  AMERICA. 


31 


een  justly 
Mexicans. 

tes,  "docs 
een  igno- 
iety,  and 
sessed  of 
species  of 

set  art  of 
irgument 
also  con- 
race  ;  for 
,  bears  no 
tic  hiero- 
jcted  be- 
peat  our 
indispu- 
le  other 
interpre- 

Iheory, 
!count  of 
e  of  the 
Hires  the 

a  long 
liversity 
je  ridge 
5  Sound 

,  a  dis. 
I,  or  of 
tirrences 
iable  to 
It  once. 
e  issued 
iguages 
rse,  but 

game, 
lobe. 


"The  traces  of  such  a  series  of  human  waves  would  be 
naiurally  looked  for  in  a  tendency  to  advance  population  in 
the  north,  from  which  they  emanated,  and  where  the  pressure 
must  have  been  greatest  and  the  colonization  of  longest  dura- 
tion. Nothing  like  this  is  observed  :  the  population  of  South 
America,  and  of  Darien,  Guatimalaand  Mexico,  being  much 
greater  in  proportion  than  that  of  any  country  farther  north. 
^  The  marks  of  early  civilization,  too,  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant proofs  of  long  residence  in  a  fixed  spot,  are  all,  as  in  the 
older  world,  in  favor  of  the  tropical  clinmtes."* 

We  may  further  inquire,  how  it  happens  that  during  the 
lapse  of  more  than  three  hundred  years  since  the  discovery  of 
America,  there  has  not  been  an  authenticated  immigration 
from  Asia  ?  The  long  and  desolating  wars  which  have  driven 
whole  nations  from  the  central  to  the  northern  parts  of  that  con- 
tinent, have  not  supplied  a  single  colony  to  the  New  World. 
Nay,  if  such  colonization  had  occurred  within  a  thousand  or 
two  thousand  years,  would  we  not  now  possess  more  in- 
dubitable evidences  of  it  in  language,  customs  and  the  arts? 
We  propose  in  the  next  place,  to  make  a  very  few  observa- 
tions in  reference  to  the  idea  that  America  has  been  peopled 
by  the  Malay  race,  which  in  the  ordinary  classification,  in- 
T         eludes  the  Malays  proper  of  the  Indian  Archipelago,  and  the 
Polynesians  in  all  their  numberless  localities.     These  people, 
%       however,  have  so  much  of  the  Mongolian  character,  that 
1       nearly  the  same  objections  arise  to  both.  The  head  of  the  Ma- 
il      lay  proper,  is  more  like  that  of  the  Indian,  becauseit  not  unfre- 
■  f        quently  presents  something  of  the  vertical  form  of  the  occi- 
put ;  and  the  transverse  diameter,  as  measured  between  the 
parietal  bones,  is  also  remarkably  large.    But  excepting  in 
these  respects,  the  osteological  developement  coincides  with 
that   of   the    Mongolian;    while    the   category    of   objec- 
tions which  we  have  just  urged  against  the  latter  people,  is 
equally  valid  in  respect  to  the  whole  Malay  race.    For  inde- 
pendently of  differences  of  organization,  how  great  is  the 

*0n  the  Origin  of  tho  Indiaa  Population  of  America.    By  B.  H.  Coateb, 
M.  D.  1834. 


|H-. 


1 1 


32 


DISTINCTIVE    CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE 


•ii    'i 


!1 


disparity  in  their  arts  and  social  institutions  !  So  great, 
indeed,  that  to  account  for  it.  Dr.  Lang,  one  of  the  most  inge- 
nious supporters  of  the  theory,  insists  on  an  intellectual 
degeneracy  consequent  to  change  of  climate  and  circumstan- 
ces. "It  is  an  easy  and  natural  process,"  says  he,  "for  man 
to  degenerate  i!i  the  scale  of  civilization,  as  the  Asiatics  have 
evidently  done  in  travelling  to  the  northward  and  eastward. 
He  has  only  to  move  forward  a  few  hundred  miles  into  the 
wilderness,  and  settle  himself  at  a  distance  from  all  civilized 
men,  and  the  process  will  advance  with  almost  incredible 
celerity.  For  whether  he  comes  in  contact  with  savages  or 
not,  in  the  dark  recesses  of  the  forest,  his  offspring  will 
speedily  arrive  at  a  state  of  complete  barbarism." 

We  confess  our  difficulty  in  imagining  how  the  Polynesians, 
themselves  a  barbarous  people,  though  possessing  some  of  the 
attributes  of  civilized  life,  should  become  savages  in  the  tro- 
pical regions  of  America,  wherein  the  climate  must  be  as 
congenial  to  their  constitutions  as  their  own,  and  the  various 
other  external  circumstances  are  calculated  to  foster  rather 
than  to  depress  the  energies  of  a  naturally  active  and  intelli- 
gent people.  But  the  general  prevrl'^nce  of  easterly  winds  is 
adverse  to  the  colonization  of  America  fron;  the  islands  of  the 
Pacific;  for  the  nearest  of  these  islands  is  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  miles  from  the  American  coast;  and  when  we  reflect 
on  the  many  difficulties  which  the  mere  distance  opposes  to 
navigation  in  small  vessels,  and  the  absolute  necessity  for  food 
and  water  for  a  long  period  of  time,  we  feel  compelled  to  be- 
lieve that  America  has  received  very  feeble  accessions 
to  its  population  from  the  Polynesian  islands.  Such  voyages, 
if  admitted,  could  only  have  been  accidental ;  for  it  is  not  to 
be  supposed  that  these  islanders  would  have  attempted  remote 
discoveries  on  the  vast  Pacific  ocean  in  the  very  face  of  the 
trade  winds ;  and  a  successful  issue  is  among  the  least  pro- 
bable of  human  events. 

Even  admitting  that  the  Polynesians  have  accomplished  all 
that  the  theory  requires,  how  does  it  happen  that  on  reach- 
ing the  continent  of  America,  they  should  all  at  once  have 


ABORIOINAL   RACE    OF  AMERICA. 


33 


relinquished  their  intuitive  fondness  for  the  water,  forgotten 
the  construction  of  their  boats,  and  become  the  most  timid 
and  helpless  navigators  in  the  world  ? 

A  comparison  of  languages,  moreover,  gives  no  support  to 
the  Polynesian  hypothesis;  for  all  the  zeal  and  ingenuity 
which  have  been  devoted  to  this  inquiry,  have  tended  only 
to  disclose  a  complete  philological  disparity. 

The  theories  to  which  we  have  thus  briefly  adverted,  would 
each  derive  the  whole  American  population  from  a  single 
source;  but  various  others  have  been  hazarded  of  a  much  more 
complex  nature,  by  which  the  Indian  nations  are  referred  to 
a  plurality  of  races,  not  even  excepting  the  Caucasian.  For 
example,  the  Peruvians,  Muyscas  and  Mexicans,  are  by  some 
advocatesofthis  system  supposed  to  be  Malays  or  Polynesians, 
while  all  the  savage  tribes  are  referred  to  the  Mongolians ; 
whence  the  civilization  of  the  one  and  the  barbarism  of  the 
other.  But  we  insist  that  the  origin  of  these  great  divisions 
must  have  been  the  same,  because  all  their  ethnographic 
characters,  not  excepting  the  construction  of  their  numberless 
languages,  go  to  enforce  an  identity  of  race. 

Another  doctrine  which  has  had  many  disciples,  (among 
whom  was  the  late  Lord  Kingsborough,  author  of  Mexican 
^Antiquities,)  teaches  that  the  whole  American  population  is 
descended  from  the  Jews,  through  the  ten  lost  tribes  which 
were  carried  away  by  Salmanazer,  King  of  Assyria.  Here 
again  the  differences  of  physical  organization  should  set  this 
question  at  rest  for  ever;  but  independently  of  these,  can  we 
suppose  that  a  people  so  tenacious  as  the  Jews  of  their  litera- 
ture, language  and  religion,  would  not  have  preserved  a  soli- 
tary, unequivocal  memorial  of  either  among  the  multitudinous 
tribes  of  this  continent,  if  any  direct  affiliation  had  ever  ex- 
isted between  them  ?  In  short,  we  coincide  in  opinion  with 
a  facetious  author  who  sums  up  all  the  evidence  of  the  case 
with  the  conclusion,  that  "  the  Jewish  theory  cannot  be  true 
for  the  simple  reason  that  it  is  impossible." 

We  feel  assured  that  the  same  objection  bears  not  less 
strongly  on  every  other  hypothesis  which  deduces  any  por- 


34 


DKITINCTIVE  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE 


I? 

ill  1 


tion  of  tlio  American  nations  from  a  Caucasian  source.  In 
order  to  solve  the  problem  of  the  origin  of  the  monuments  of 
America,  iiidepcnclentlyof  any  agency  of  the  aboriginal  race, 
an  opinion  lias  been  advanced  that  they  are  the  work  of  a 
branch  of  the  Rfcut  Cyclopean  family  of  tlie  old  world,  known 
by  the  various  designations  of  the  Shepherd  Kings  of  Egypt, 
the  Anakim  of  Syria,  theOscansof  Etruria,  andthe  Pelasgians 
of  Greece.  Those  wandcrinij  masons,  as  they  are  also  called, 
are  supposed  to  have  passed  from  Asia  into  America  at  a  very 
early  epoch  of  history,  and  to  have  built  those  more  ancient 
monuments  which  arc  attributed  to  the  Toltecan  nation. 
Tills  view,  supported  as  it  is  by  some  striking  resemblances, 
and  especially  in  architectural  decoration,  leaves  various  im- 
portant didicultics  entirely  unexplained :  it  necessarily  pre- 
supposes a  great  influx  of  foreigners  to  account  for  such  nu- 
merous and  gigantic  remains  of  human  ingenuity  and  effort, 
at  the  same  time  that  iiotrace  of  this  exotic  familycanbedetect- 
ed  in  the  existing  Indian  population.  They  and  their  arts  are 
equally  eradicated  ;  and  we  can,  at  most,  only  conceive  of  the 
presence  of  these  migratory  strangers  in  small  and  isolated 
groups,  which  might  have  modified  the  arts  of  an  antecedent 
civilization,  while  they  themselves  were  too  few  in  number 
to  transmit  their  lineaments  to  any  aboriginal  community. 

Closely  allied  to  this  theory  is  that  of  our  ingenious  country- 
man, Mr.  Delafiold,  who  derives  the  demi-civilized  nations 
of  America  from  "the  Cuthites  who  built  the  monuments  of 
Egypt  and  Indostan."  He  supposes  them  to  have  traversed 
all  Asia  to  reach  Behring's  strait,  and  thus  to  have  entered 
America  at  its  northwest  angle,  whence  they  made  their  way 
by  slow  journeys  to  the  central  regions  of  the  continent.  Our 
objections  to  this  theory  will  be  found  in  what  has  been  al- 
ready stated;  and  we  may  merely  add,  that  the  route  by  which 
the  author  conducts  his  pilgrim  adventurers  appears  to  con- 
stitute the  least  plausible  portion  of  his  theory.  Mr.  Delafield 
supposes  the  barbarous  tribes  to  be  of  a  different  stock,  and 
refers  them  to  the  Mongolians  of  Asia;  thus  adopting  the  idea 
of  a  plurality  of  races. 


ABORIOINAL   RACE  OF   AMRRICA. 


35 


iirce.    In 
iimcnts  of 
;iiial  race, 
vork  of  a 
Id,  known 
of  Egypt, 
*elasgians 
so  called, 
I  at  a  very 
B  ancient 
1   nation, 
nblances, 
rioiis  im- 
irily  pre- 
such  mi- 
nd effort, 
bedetect- 
r  arts  are 
ve  of  the 
isolated 
itecedent 
nnmber 
lunity, 
country- 
nations 
ments  of 
raversed 
entered 
leir  way 
!nt.  Our 
Deen  al- 
y  which 
to  con. 
lelafield 
ick,  and 
the  idea 


Wo  shall  lastly  notice  an  imaginative  classification  which 
separates  the  aborigines  of  America  into  four  species  of  men, 
exclusive  of  the  Eskimaux.  This  curious  but  unphilosophi- 
cal  hypotlio,«ii»ilias  been  advanced  by  M.  Hory  do  St.  Vincent, 
a  French  nn  iralist  of  distinction,  who  considers  the  civilized 
nations  to  to  cognate  Avitli  the  Malays,  and  designates  them 
by  the  collective  name  of  X\w  Ncplnnian  s])ceics  ;  wliile  to 
his  three  remaining  species, — the  Columbian,  the  American, 
and  the  Patagonian,  he  assigns  certain  vague  geographical 
limits,  without  establishing  any  distinctive  characteristics  of 
the  people  themselves.  The  system  is  so  devoid  of  founda- 
tion in  nature,  so  fanciful  in  all  its  details,  as  hardly  to  merit 
a  serious  analysis ;  and  we  have  introduced  it  on  the  present 
occasion  to  illustrate  the  extravagance,  and  the  poverty,  of 
some  of  the  hypotheses  which  have  been  resorted  to  in  expla- 
nation of  the  problem  before  us. 

Once  for  all  I  repeat  my  conviction,  that  the  study  of  phy- 
sical conformation  alone  excludes  every  branch  of  the  Cau- 
casian race  from  any  obvious  participation  in  the  peopling  of 
this  continent.  If  the  Egyptians,*  Hindoos,  Phcnicians,  or 
Gauls  have  ever,  by  accident  or  design,  planted  colonies  in 
America,  these  must  have  been,  sooner  or  later,  dispersed  and 
lost  in  the  waves  of  a  vast  indigenous  population.  Such  we 
know  to  have  been  the  fact  with  the  Northmen,  whose  re- 
peated, though  very  partial,  settlements  in  the  present  New 
England  States,  from  the  tenth  to  the  thirteenth  centuries, 
are  now  matter  of  history  ;  yet,  in  the  country  itself,  they 
have  not  left  a  single  indisputable  trace  of  their  sojourn. 

In  fine,  our  own  conclusion,  long  ago  deduced  from  a  pa- 
tient examination  of  the  facts  thus  briefly  and  inadequately 
stated,  is,  that  the  American  race  is  essentially  separate  and 
peculiar,  whether  we  regard  it  in  its  physical,  its  moral,  or  its 
intellectual  relations.  To  us  there  are  no  direct  or  obvious 
Unks  between  the  people  of  the  old  world  and  the  new ;  for 
even  admitting  the  seeming  analogies  to  which  we  have  al- 

♦  See  Appendix  No.  4. 


) 


(flliii!' 


36 


DISTINCTIVE   CHARACTERISTICS  OF   THE 


f 


iii 


ii 


luded,  these  are  so  few  in  number  and  evidently  so  casual  as 
not  to  invalidate  the  main  position :  and  even  should  it  be 
hereafter  shown,  that  the  arts,  sciences,  and  religion  of  Ame- 
rica can  be  traced  to  an  exotic  source,  I  maintain  that  the 
organic  characters  of  the  people  themselves,  through  all  their 
endless  ramifications  of  tribes  and  nations,  prove  them  to  be- 
long to  one  and  the  same  race,  and  that  this  race  is  distinct 
from  all  others. 

This  idea  may,  at  first  view,  seem  incompatible  with  the 
history  of  man,  as  recorded  in  the  Sacred  Writings.  Such, 
however,  is  not  the  fact.  Where  others  can  see  nothing  but 
chance,  we  can  perceive  a  wise  and  obvious  design,  displayed 
in  the  original  adaptation  of  the  several  races  of  men  to  those 
varied  circumstances  of  climate  and  locality  which,  while 
congenial  to  the  one,  are  destructive  to  the  other.  The  evi- 
den  •  s  of  history  and  ^the  Egyptian  monuments  go  to  prove 
that  these  races  were  as  distinctly  stamped  three  thousand 
five  hundred  years  ago  as  they  are  now;  and,  in  fact, 
that  they  are  coeval  with  the  primitive  dispersion  of  our 
species'. 


On 
to  th( 
extra 

I  SI 

ancie 
Gomi 
cartm 
ceive 
Th 

I.Ot 

gre 
Atr 
the 
Th( 
cap 


'4 


30  casual  as 
ihould  it  be 
ion  of  Ame- 
lin  that  the 
jgh  all  their 
them  to  be- 
e  is  distinct 

tie  with  the 
ngs.  Such, 
[lothing  but 
n,  displayed 
nen  to  those 
hich,  while 
.  The  evi- 
go  to  prove 
le  thousand 
nd,  in  fact, 
sion  of  our 


APPENDIX 


No.  1. 


On  the  6th  of  July,  1841, 1  made  the  following  communication 
to  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia;  and  now 
extract  it  from  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  of  that  date : 

I  submit  to  the  inspection  of  the  members  eight  adult  skulls  of  the 
ancient  Mexican  race,  for  six  of  which  I  am  indebted  to  Don  J. 
Gomez  de  la  Cortina,  and  for  the  other  two  to  Dr.  John  P.  Ma- 
cartney of  the  city  of  Mexico.  All  these  crania  have  been  re- 
ceived since  the  publication  of  my  Crania  Americana. 

The  skulls  are  supposed  to  be  of  the  following  nations  : 

1.  Otomies  ? — Four  in  number,  with  the  high  vertex,  flat  occiput, 
great  lateral  diameter,  and  broad  face,  characteristic  of  the 
American  race.  The  Otomies  preceded  the  Toltecas,  and  were 
the  least  cultivated  of  the  demi-civilized  nations  of  Anahuac. 
The  largest  of  these  heads  gives  92  cubic  inches  of  internal 
capacity ;  the  smallest,  that  of  a  female,  only  67. 


j{ 

^M  • 

\ 

'^^^^■B  ) 

i 

^H 

j 

1 

■ 

^Ib  ' 

^^H 

^^^B 

Hi 

'1 


I: 


ir, 


I 


38 


DISTINCTIVE    CHARACTERISTICS    OP   THE 


2.  Chechemecan  ? — A  single  skull,  of  83  cubic  inches  of  internal 
capacity.  This  nation  followed  the  Toltecas  in  the  possession  of 
Mexico  in  the  11th  century  of  our  era.  They  were  nomades 
and  huntersjbut  rapidly  acquired  the  arts  and  civilization  of  their 
predecessors. 

3.  Tlascalan? — A  single  cranium.  These  people  formed  one  of 
the  seven  tribes  who  established  themselves  in  Mexico  during 
the  Chechemecan  monarchy,  and  are  renowned  in  history  for 
their  warlike  exploits.  They  are  well  known  to  have  rendered 
Cortez  essential  aid  in  taking  the  city  of  Mexico.  This  skull 
gives  an  internal  capacity  of  84  cubic  inches,  and  like  the  others 
of  this  series,  is  remarkable  for  its  diameter  between  the  pa- 
rietal bones. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  average  internal  capacity  of 
these  six  authentic  Mexican  skulls,  is  precisely  what  I  have  ac- 
corded to  these  people  in  my  Crania  Americana,  viz.,  seventy -nine 
cubic  inches.  The  mean  of  the  facial  angle  also  accords  with  my 
previous  measurements,  and  gives  75°. 

All  these  heads  were  obtained  from  tumuli  or  mounds,  within 
the  territories  of  the  nations  whose  names  they  bear,  so  as  to 
leave  no  doubt  in  the  mind  of  the  distinguished  gentleman  from 
whom  I  received  them,  of  their  having  pertained  to  individuals  of 
those  nations. 

The  two  remaining  crania  are  supposed  to  be  those  of  Aztecs, 
who  also  belonged  to  the  confederacy  of  the  seven  tribes,  but  were 
the  last  to  take  possession.  These  were  the  people  who  subse- 
quently obtained  the  supreme  power,  and  under  the  name  of  Az- 
tecs, or  Mexicans,  governed  the  country  at  the  epoch  of  the 
Spanish  invasion,  a.  d.  1521.  The  Aztecks  were  a  brave  and 
intelligent  people,  but  remarkable  for  bloody  rites,  both  in  their 
warlike  and  religious  observances.  They  were  less  cuhivated 
than  the  Toltecas,  but  much  more  so  than  the  surrounding  bar- 
barous  tribes  ;  and  appear,  in  fact,  to  have  been  the  connecting 
link  between  the  two.  The  largest  of  these  heads  gives  85  cubic 
inches  of  internal  capacity  ;  the  smallest  77  ;  the  medium  being 
80  cubic  inches.  The  configuration  of  these  heads  is  on  the  same 


/ 


ABORIGINAL    RACE    OP  AMERICA. 


39 


s  of  internal 

ossession  of 
e  nomades 
tion  of  their 

med  one  of 
xico  during- 

history  for 
ve  rendered 

This  skull 
e  the  others 
een  the  pa- 
capacity  of 

I  have  ac- 
?venty-nine 
ds  with  my 

nds,  within 
ar,  so  as  to 
leman  from 
dividuals  of 

of  Aztecs, 
s,  but  were 
who  subse- 
ame  of  Az- 
och  of  the 
brave  and 
oth  in  their 
i  cuhivated 
inding  bar- 
connecting 
es  85  cubic 
iium  being 
same 


/ 


model  as  the  preceding  series,  and  the  mean  facial  angle  differs 
but  a  single  degree. 

Whoever  will  be  at  the  pains  to  compare  this  series  of  skulls 
with  those  from  the  barbarous  tribes,  will,  I  think,  agree  that  the 
facts  thus  derived  from  organic  characters  corroborate  the  position 
I  have  long  maintained,  that  all  the  American  nations,  excepting 
the  polar  tribes,  are  of  one  race  and  one  species,  but  of  two  great 
families,  which  resemble  each  other  in  physical  but  differ  in  in- 
tellectual character. 

At  a  subsequent  meeting  of  the  Society,  (August  9,  1842,)  I 
exhibited  the  remains  of  a  human  skeleton  found  by  Mr.  J.  L. 
Stevens  in  a  vault  or  tomb  at  the  ruins  near  Ticul,  nineteen 
leagues  from  Merida,  in  Yucatan.  These  bones  have  pertained 
to  a  female,  whose  stature  has  not  exceeded  five  feet  three  inches, 
at  the  same  time  that  the  absence  of  epiphyses  and  consequent 
consolidation  of  the  bones  are  proofs  of  adult  age.  From  the 
appearance  of  the  teeth,  however,  which  are  fresh,  and  not  sen- 
sibly worn,  and  a  line  or  furrow  marking  off  the  crista  of  the 
ilium,  it  is  presumed  that  this  individual  had  not  passed  her 
twentieth  year.  The  bones  of  the  head,  which  are  still  partially 
separable  at  the  sutures,  are  admirably  characteristic  of  the  ^me- 
rican  Race,  as  seen  in  the  vertical  occiput  and  the  great  inter-pa- 
rietal diameter,  which  measures  five  inches  and  eight-tenths. 
The  head  is  of  full  dize,  in  proportion  to  the  rest  of  the  skeleton, 
of  which  the  bones  are  of  very  delicate  proportions,  especially 
those  of  the  feet  and  hands.  An  interesting  feature  of  this 
skeleton  is,  the  occurrence  of  a  large  spongy  tiode  on  the  upper 
and  inner  surface  of  the  left  tibia,  on  Avhich  it  extends  about  two 
inches  in  length,  an  inch  in  breadth,  and  half  an  inch  in  thick- 
ness. Dr.  Bridges  having  subjected  some  fragments  of  these 
bones  to  the  usual  chemical  tests,  found  them  in  a  very  great 
degree  deprived  of  animal  matter — an  additional  evidence  of  their 
antiquity.* 

•  See  Stephens;  Incidents  of  Travel  in  Yucatan,  vol,  i.,  p.  281. 


1 


•n  the 


'V 


Ijii 

■I  i,  , 

"^,  1!  l! 
:;! 


40  DISTINCTIVE    CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE 


No.  2. 
REMARKS  ON  THE  ANCIENT  PERUVIANS. 

(From  the  8th  vol.  of  the  Journal  of  the  Acad,  of  Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia.) 

In  my  work  on  American  skulls,  (Crania  Americana,)  I  have 
expressed  the  opinion  that  the  heads  of  the  ancient  Peruvians 
were  naturally  very  much  elongated  ;  and  that  they  differed  in 
this  respect  from  those  of  the  Inca  Peruvians,  and  other  surround- 
ing nations  ;  and  having  given  this  opinion  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Academy  prior  to  the  publication  of  my  work,  I  take  the  present 
occasion  to  renounce  it. 

In  the  American  Journal  of  Science,  for  March,  1840, 1  have 
already,  in  a  brief  note,  adverted  to  this  change  of  opinion  ;  and 
I  now  repeat  my  matured  conclusions,  in  connection  whh  posi- 
tive facts,  derived  from  the  work  of  a  distinguished  traveller  and 
naturalist,  M.  Alcide  D'Orbigny. 

This  gentleman  not  only  visited  the  elevated  table-land  of  the 
Andes,  which  was  once  inhabited  by  the  ancient  Peruvians,  but 
he  remained  a  long  time  in  that  interesting  region,  and  has  col- 
lected numerous  facts  in  relation  of  the  people  themselves. 

1.  The  descendants  of  the  ancients  Peruvians  yet  inhabit  the 
land  of  their  ancestors,  and  bear  the  name  of  Aymaras,  which 
was  probably  their  primitive  designation. 

2.  The  modern  Aymaras  resemble  the  surrounding  Quichua 
or  Peruvian  nations  in  color,  figure,  features,  expression,  shape 
of  the  head,  (which  they  have  ceased  to  mould  into  artificial 
forms,)  and  in  fact  in  every  thing  that  relates  to  physical  confor- 
mation and  social  customs.  Their  languages  differ,  but  even  here 
there  is  a  resemblance  which  proves  a  common  origin. 

3.  On  examining  the  tombs  of  the  ancient  Aymaras,  in  the 
environs  of  the  lake  Tittcaca,M.  D'Orbigny  remarked  that  those 
which  contained  the  compressed  and  elongated  skulls,  contained 
also  a  greater  number  that  were  not  flattened ;  whence  he  infers 


^; 


r 


ANS. 

Philadelphia.) 

na,)  I  have 
Peruvians 
differed  in 
r  surround- 
ting  of  the 
the  present 

540, 1  have 

inion ;  and 

with  posi- 

aveller  and 

and  of  the 
iivians,  but 
id  has  col- 
Ives. 

nhabit  the 
ras,  which 

^  Quichua 
ion,  shape 
3  artificial 
:al  confor- 
evenhere 

t 

ras,  in  the 

that  those 

contained 

he  infers 


ABORIGINAL    RACE    OF  AMERICA. 


41 


that  the  deformity  was  not  natural,  or  characteristic  of  the  nation, 
but  the  resuh  of  mechanical  compression. 

4.  It  was  also  remarked  that  those  skulls  which  were  flattened 
were  uniformly  those  of  men,  while  the  heads  of  the  women  al- 
ways retained  the  natural  shape, — the  squared  or  spheroidal  form 
which  is  characteristic  of  the  American  race,  and  especially  of  the 
Peruvians. 

5.  The  most  elongated  heads  were  found  in  the  largest  and 
finest  tombs  ;  showing  that  the  deformity  was  a  mark  of  distinc- 
tion among  these  people. 

6.  The  researches  of  M.  D'Orbigny  confirm  the  statements 
made  at  distant  intervals  of  time  by  Pedro  de  Cieza,  Garcilaso  de 
la  Vega,  and  Mr.  Pentland,  and  prove  conclusively,  what  I  have 
never  doubted,  that  these  people  were  the  architects  of  their  own 
tombs  and  temples  ;  and  not,  as  some  suppose,  intruders^vho  had 
usurped  the  civilization,  and  appropriated  the  ingenuity  of  an  an- 
tecedent and  more  intellectual  race. 

M.  D'Orbigny  found  temples  from  100  to  200  metres  in  length, 
facing  the  east,  and  ornamented  with  rows  of  angular  columns  ; 
enormous  gateways  made  of  a  single  mass  of  rock,  and  covered 
with  has  reliefs;  colossal  statues  of  basalt;  and  large  square 
tombs,  wholly  above  ground,  and  in  such  numbers  that  they  are 
compared  to  towns  and  villages. 

My  published  observations  go  to  show  that  the  internal  capa- 
city of  the  cranium,  as  indicative  of  the  size  of  the  brain,  is  nearly 
the  same  in  the  ancient  and  modern  Peruvians,  viz.,  about 
seventy-six  cubic  inches  —  a  smallness  of  size  which  is  with- 
out a  parallel  among  existing  nations,  excepting  only  the 
Hindoos. 

M.  D'Orbigny  even  supposes  the  ancient  Peruvians  to  have 
been  the  lineal  progenitors  of  the  Inca  family  ;  a  question  which 
is  not  yet  decided.  Supposing  this  to  be  the  fact,  we  may  in- 
quire how  it  happens  that  the  Incas  should  have  abandoned  the 
practice  of  distorting  the  cranium  ;  especially  as  this,  among  the 
Aymaras,  was  an  aristocratic  privilege  ? 

I  was  at  first  at  a  loss  to  imagine  how  this  singular  elongation  of 
the  head  had  been  effected ;  for  when  pressure  is  applied  to  a  sphe- 

4* 


Hi 


I'   I 


4)8 


DISTINCTIVK    CHARACTERISTICS   OF    THE 


roidal  head,  as  in  the  instance  of  the  Chenouks  and  other  tribes 
of  the  Columbia  river,  the  skull  expands  laterally  in  proportion 
as  it  is  depressed  above ;  whereas,  in  these  people,  the  head  is 
narrow  from  the  face  to  the  occiput.  It  seems  probable  that  this 
conformation  was  produced  by  placing  splints  or  compresses  on 
each  side  of  the  head  from  the  cheek  bones  to  the  parietal  pro- 
tuberances, and  another  on  the  forehead,  and  confining  them  by 
rotary  bandages.  In  this  way  the  face,  in  the  process  of  growth, 
would  be  protruded  in  front,  and  the  head  elongated  backwards; 
while  the  skull,  in  all  other  directions,  could  expand  compara- 
tively little.  These  remarks  will  be  more  readily  understood  by 
reference  to  the  annexed  outlines,  which  are  taken  from  a  cast  of 
one  of  the  skulls  obtained  by  Mr.  Pentland. 


Dr.  Goddard  has  suggested  to  me  that  the  deformity  observ- 
able in  this  series  of  crania,  might  have  been  produced  by  the 
action  of  rotary  bandages  alone,  without  the  use  of  splints  or 
compresses.  I  admit  the  possibility  of  this  result  in  some  of  the 
heads,  but  think  that  in  others  there  is  satisfactory  evidence 
of  the  employment  of  the  splint  or  compress,  especially  on  the  os 
frontis. 


I,'  ■♦ 


her  tribes 
proportion 
le  head  is 
le  that  this 
iresses  on 
rietal  pro- 
them  by 
of  frrowth, 
ackwards; 
compara- 
rstood  by 
n  a  cast  of 


^ 


ity  observ- 
ed by  the 
splints  or 
)me  of  the 
evidence 
on  the  OS 


ABORIGINAL  RACE  OP  AMERICA. 


43 


I  have  in  my  possession  six  casts  of  heads  and  three  skulls  of 
these  people,  all  of  which  present  the  peculiarly  elongated  form 
in  question. 


No.  3. 

REMARKS  ON  THE  SO-CALLED  PIGMY  RACE  OF  THE 
VALLEY  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPL 

(From  the  8th  vol.  of  the  Journal  of  the  Acad,  of  Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia,) 

It  had  long  been  contended  by  intelligent  persons,  who,  however, 
were  ignorant  of  Anatomy,  that  the  adjusted  bones  of  these  pretended 
Pigmies  never  e.vceeded  four  feet  and  a  half  in  length,  and  were 
often  but  three  feet,  notwithstanding  the  asserted  indications  of  adult 
age.  These  statements  made  me  desirous  to  investigate  the  sub- 
ject by  means  of  a  skeleton  of  one  of  these  people,  which  I  at  length 
obtained  through  the  kindness  of  Dr.  Troost,  of  Nashville;  Dr. 
M'Call,  an  intelligent  correspondent  of  Dr.  Troost,  having  exhumed 

the  remains  froni  a  "  Pigmy  cemetery"  near  the  Cumberland  Moun- 
tain, in  White  county,  Tennessee. 

"  The  colFms,"  observes  Dr.  M'Call,  in  his  letter  addressed 
to  me,  "  are  from  18  to  24  inches  in  length,  by  18  inches  deep, 
and  15  wide.  They  are  made  of  six  pieces  of  undressed  sandstone 
or  limestone,  in  which  the  bodies  are  placed  with  their  shoulders 
and  head  elevated  against  the  eastern  end,  anH  the  knees  raised 
towards  the  face,  so  as  to  put  the  corpse  in  a  reclined  or  sitting 
posture.  The  right  arm  rested  on  an  earthen  pot,  of  about  two 
pints  in  capacity,  without  legs,  but  with  lateral  projections  for  being 
lifted.  With  these  pots,  in  some  graves,  are  found  basins  and  trays 
also  of  pipe  clay  and  comminuted  shells  mixed;  and  no  one  of  these 
repositories  is  without  cooking  utensils.  In  one  of  the  graves  was 
found  a  complete  skull,  and  an  os  femoris,  but  most  of  the  other 
bones  were  broke  in  hastily  removing  them.    This  is  said  to  be  the 


] 


m 


ii! 


41 


DISTINCTIVE  CHARACTERISTICS  OP  THE 


EHf! 


i  M 


;  I! 


largest  skeleton  ever  found  at  any  of  these  burying  grounds.  It 
has  ihe  cranium  very  flat  and  broad,  with  very  projecting  front 
teeth,  and  appears  to  have  pertained  to  an  individual  not  over 
twelve  or  fourteen  years  of  age." 

The  bones  which  accompanied  the  letter  indicate  a  very  juvenile 
subject.  For  example,  many  of  the  deciduous  or  first  teeth  yet  re- 
main in  both  jaws  ;  while  the  only  teeth  of  the  permanent  set  which 
liave  protruded,  are  the  first  molars  and  the  incisors,  which,  as  every 
anatomist  knows,  make  their  appearance  at  about  seven  years  of 
age.  Of  the  other  permanent  teeth,  some  have  no  part  formed  but 
the  crown,  and  all  are  completely  within  the  maxillary  bones. 
The  presence  of  the  new  incisors,  isolated  from  the  cuspidati  which 
have  not  appeared,  obviously  gave  rise  to  Dr.  M'Call's  remark  re- 
specting the  very  "  projecting  front  teeth,"  but  which,  however,  are 
perfectly  natural  in  position  and  proportion.  The  cranial  bones  are 
thin,  and  readily  separable  at  the  sutures;  nor  does  thejlat  and  broad 
configuration  of  the  cranium  differ  from  what  is  common  to  the 
aboriginal  American  race.  The  long  bones  have  their  extremities 
separated  by  epiphyses;  and  every  fact  observed  in  these  remains 
is  strictly  characteristic  of  early  childhood,  or  about  the  eighth  year 
of  life.  Even  the  recumbent  or  sitting  posture  in  which  they  are 
found,  has  been  observed  in  the  dead  bodies  of  the  American  na- 
tions from  Cape  Horn  to  Canada ;  and  the  utensils  found  with  them 
are  the  same  in  form  and  composition  with  those  exhumed  from  the 
graves  of  the  common  Indians. 

These  remains  are  to  me  an  additional  and  convincing  proof  of 
what  I  have  never  doubled — viz.,  that  the  so-called  Pigmies  of  the 
western  country  were  merely  children,  who,  for  reasons  not  readily 
explained,  but  which  actuate  some  religious  communities  of  our  own 
time,  were  buried  apart  from  the  adult  people  of  their  tribe. 


fi  ^< 


inds.     It 

ng  front 

not  over 


h 


juvenile 
yet  re- 
set which 
as  every 
years  of 
med  but 
bones, 
iti  which 
mark  re- 
ever,  are 
lones  are 
id  broad 
n  to  the 
tremities 
remains 
Iith  year 
they  are 
ican  na- 
ith  them 
from  the 

proof  of 

3  of  the 

readily 

)ur  own 


ABORIGINAL  RACE  OF  AMERICA.  45 


No.  4. 

With  respect  to  the  Egyptians  and  Hindoos,  as  involved  in  this 
question,  I  can  speak  without  reservation.  Through  the  kindness 
of  an  accomplished  gentleman  and  scholar,  George  R.  Gliddon, 
Esq.,  late  United  States  Consul  at  Cairo,  I  have  received  one  hun- 
dred headsof  Egyptian  mummies  from  the  tombs  of  Abydos,  Thebes 
and  Memphis,  (Sec;  and  I  unhesitatingly  declare,  that,  with  a  few 
exceptions,  which  have  a  mixed  character,  and  chiefly  resemble  the 
Coptic  form,  the  conformation  throughout  is  that  of  the  Caucasian 
race. 

The  following  extracts  from  my  Crania  jEgi/ptiaca,  just  now 
published,  appear  to  me  to  be  conclusive  on  this  point : 

"It  was  remarked  fifty  years  ago,  by  the  learned  Professor  Blu- 
menbach,  that  a  principal  requisite  for  an  inquiry  such  as  we  now 
propose,  would  be  "  a  very  careful,  technical  examination  of  the 
skulls  of  mummies  hitherto  met  with,  together  with  an  accurate 
comparison  of  these  skulls  with  the  monuments."  This  is  precisely 
the  design  I  have  in  view  in  the  following  memoir,  which  I  therefore 
commence  by  an  analysis  of  the  characters  of  all  the  crania  now  in 
my  possession.  These  may  be  referred  to  two  of  the  great  races 
of  men,  the  Caucasian  and  the  Negro,  although  there  is  a  remark- 
able disparity  in  the  number  of  each.  The  Caucasian  heads  also 
vary  so  much  among  themselves  as  to  present  several  different 
types  of  this  race,  which  may,  perhaps,  be  appropriately  grouped 
under  the  following  designations  : — 

CAUCASIAN   RACE. 

1.  The  *Pelasgic  Type.  In  this  division  I  place  jthose  heads 
which  present  the  finest  conformation,  as  seen  in  the  Caucasian 
nations  of  western  Asia,  and  middle  and  southern  Europe.     The 

^  I  do  not  use  this  term  with  ethnographic  precision  ;  but  merely  to  indicate 
the  most  perfect  type  of  cranio-facial  outline. 


I 


1 


*■  i 


46 


DliTINCTIVE  CIIAHACTEHISTICS  OP  THE 


;l    II 


M'l 


II ' 


Pelasgic  lineaments  are  familiar  to  us  in  tho  beautiful  models  of 
Grecian  art,  which  are  remarkable  for  the  volume  of  the  head  in 
comparison  with  that  of  tho  face,  tho  large  facial  angle,  and  the 
symmetry  and  delicacy  of  tho  whole  osleological  structure. 

2.  The  Semitic  Type,  as  seen  in  the  Hebrew  communities,  is 
marked  by  a  comparatively  receding  forehead,  long,  arched  and 
very  prominent  nose,  a  marked  distance  between  the  eyes,  n  low, 
heavy,  broad  and  strong  and  often  harsh  development  of  the  whole 
facial  structure. 

4.  The  Egyptian  form  differs  from  the  Pelasgic  in  having  a  nar- 
rower and  more  receding  forehead,  while  the  face  being  more  pro- 
minent, the  facial  angle  is  consequently  less.  The  nose  is  straight 
or  aquiline,  the  face  angular,  the  features  often  sharp,  and  the  hair 
uniformly  long,  soft,  and  curling.  In  this  series  of  crania  I  include 
many  of  which  the  conformation  is  not  appreciably  different  from 
that  of  the  Arab  and  Hindoo;  but  I  have  not,  as  a  rule,  attempted  to 
note  these  distinctions,  although  they  are  so  marked  as  to  have  in- 
duced me,  in  the  early  stage  of  the  investigation,  and  for  reasons 
which  will  appear  in  the  sequel,  to  group  them,  together  with  the 
proper  Egyptinn  form,  under  the  provisional  name  of  Austral- 
Egyptian  crania. 

NEGRO    RACE. 

The  true  Negro  conformation  requires  no  comment ;  but  it  is 
necessary  to  observe  that  a  practised  eye  readily  detects  a  few 
heads  with  decidedly  mixed  characters,  in  which  those  of  the  Negro 
predominate.  For  these  I  propose  the  name  of  Negroid  crania  ; 
for  while  the  osleological  development  is  more  or  less  that  of  the 
Negro,  the  hair  is  long  but  sometimes  harsh,  thus  indicating  that 
combination  of  features  which  is  familiar  in  the  mulatto  grades  of 
the  present  day.  It  is  proper,  however,  to  remark  in  relation  to 
the  whole  series  of  crania,  that  while  the  greater  part  is  readily  refer- 
rible  to  some  one  of  the  above  subdivisions,  there  remain  a  few  other 
examples  in  which  the  Caucasian  traits  predominate,  but  are  par. 
tially  blended  with  those  of  the  Negro,  which  last  modify  both  the 
structure  and  expression  of  the  head  and  face. 


t  /lii 


ABORIGINAL    RACE    OP   AMERICA. 


4T 


models  of 
le  head  Id 
e,  and  the 

3. 

unities,  is 
rched  and 
es,  a  low, 
the  whole 


more  pro- 
is  straight 
]  the  hair 
I  include 
rent  from 
emptcd  to 
)  have  in- 
r  reasons 
with  the 
Austral- 


The  following  is  a  Tabular  View  of  the  whole  series  of  cranio, 
arranged,  in  the  first  place,  according  to  their  sepulchral  localities, 
and,  in  the  second,  in  reference  to  their  national  ainnitics. 

Ethnographic  Table  of  one  hundred  ancunt  Egyptian  Crania, 


Sepulchral  Localillei. 

No. 

26 

Ef(yplilii. 

Pt-lnJBic, 

Semitic. 

Mixed. 

NfRroid. 

NfRro. 

Idiot. 

Mempliis, 

7 

10 

1 

1 

1 

Maabdeh, 

4 

1 

1 

2 

Ahydos, 

4 

2 

1 

1 

Thelies, 

55 

30 

10 

4 

4 

5 

2 

()mbo8, 

3 

3 

Philffi, 

4 

2 

1 

1 

Debod, 

4 

4 

1 

100 

49 

21) 

G 

5 

8 

1 

2 

No.  5. 


but  it  is 
ts  a  few 
he  Negro 
I  crania  ; 
at  of  the 
ting  that 
grades  of 
elation  to 
iiy  refer- 
few  other 
are  par. 
both  the 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  THE  HUMAN  SPECIES. 

The  following  classification  is  a  slight  modification  of  that  pub- 
lished in  my  Crania  Americana.  The  Races  correspond  with  those 
in  Prof.  Blumenbach's  system,  which  latter  differs  but  little  from  that 
of  BufTon.  The  subdivision  into  Families  is  based  upon  ethno- 
graphic analogies,  both  physical  and  philological. 

I.  CAUCASIAN  RACE. 
A.     The  Japetic  or  Indo-European  Branch. 

1.  The  Pelasgic  or  Caucasian  Family. 

2.  The  Germanic  Family. 

3.  The  Celtic  Family. 

4.  The  Indostanic  Family. 


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48  THE  ABORIGINAL    RACE    OP   AMERICA. 

B.  The  Semitic  or  Syko-Araiiian  Branch. 

6.  Tho  Arftbian  Family. 
0.  Tho  Hebrew  Family. 

C.  The  Hamitic  or  iEoYPTo-LiuYAN  Branch. 

7.  Tho  Nilotic  or  Egyptian  Family. 

8.  The  Libyan  Family. 

II.  THE  MONGOLIAN  RACE. 

9.  The  Mongol-Tartar  Family. 

10.  *The  Turkish  Family. 

11.  Tho  Chinese  Family. 

IS.  -j-Thc  Indo-Chinese  Family. 

13.  The  Polar  Family. 

III.  THE  MALAY  RACE. 

14.  The  Malay  Family. 

15.  Tho  Polynesian  Family. 

IV.  THE  AMERICAN  RACE. 

16.  The  American  Family. 

17.  The  Toltecan  Family. 

V.  THE  NEGRO  RACE.* 

18.  The  Negro  Family. 

19.  The  Caffrarian  Family. 

20.  The  Austral-African  or  Hottentot  Family. 

21.  The  Oceanic-Negro  Family- 

22.  The  Australian  Family. 

*The  Turks  arc  a  mixed  family  of  the  Caucassian  and  Mongolian  racrs,  in 
which  the  latter  preponderates. 

f  The  Indo-Chinese  nations  may  yet  prove  to  belong  to  the  Malay  race. 
4  Called  the  Ethiopian  Race  by  Professor  Blumenbach. 


racps,  in 


ace. 


P.O.  Dox  2420,  Srorion  D  '^  "  940A  Terminol  D,  Orrowo,  Onrorio  K1P 


